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Sampling
Posted on | March 29, 2007 | 7 Comments
Earlier this week, I started spinning the Corriedale that reminds me of faded paisley handkerchiefs. SB doesn’t agree with me about the color, but what does he know? You should see some of the ties he wears! Hee!
I have 8 oz. of this, so when my first 4 oz. bobbin was full, I started thinking about whether I wanted this to be a two-ply or whether I wanted to make chained singles. Susan recently swore off two-ply forever but I wasn’t sure I was ready for such a drastic step! I decided to do a little sampling, so yesterday morning (I took a mid-week vacation day, just because) I made chained singles with .35/ounce and a two-ply with .20/ounce, using the Andean plying bracelet method.
The two-ply is on top, the chained singles are on the bottom. Lots of barber-poling in the two ply and stripes in the chained singles. But how would they knit up? I gave them a quick bath and hung them outside to dry while I went to my guild’s Spin Study, a treat I don’t normally get to enjoy because of WORK (blech). When I got home, my sample skeins were dry so I grabbed my needles and a beer and knit ‘em up.
Chained singles (three-ply) are on the top, knit with a size 8; two-ply is on the bottom, knit on a 6. The three-ply was rounder (duh, it has three dimensions) and more pleasant to knit with. The chains aren’t noticeable in the knitted fabric. Here’s a close-up:
The colors remind me of a yarn I’ve seen before but I can’t recall where.
The two-ply seemed to lose a lot of the red and has mostly blue tones:
I like them both. I would get more yardage from the two-ply and it has a nicer hand than the three-ply, but it just wasn’t as satisfying to knit with. I have no idea what I’d make with the yarn so there’s no guidance there. One of these days I’ll start spinning with a project in mind; most of the time I spin just for the fun of it. That results in a lot of handspun sitting around. The stash is growing. It’s invaded my commercial yarn storage bins. It shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Is that a bad thing?
In personal news – I’ve decided to get off my tookas and do something about this weight I’ve gained. A friend of mine has been going to a Four Week Body Makeover personal training program (I’m calling it Boot Camp) and in less than four weeks, she’s lost 18 19.5 inches! I have an appointment with the personal trainer at lunch today and I’ve decided to join the program when it starts again in two weeks. It’s not cheap but I just paid my car off and it’ll be like making a car payment but better because it’s an investment in myself, my health and my future. I’ll be posting about it but I’ll try not to let it take over the blog!
Comments
7 Responses to “Sampling”
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March 29th, 2007 @ 10:57 am
I like the three ply the best – I prefer stripes to the barberpole, but that’s just me!
Good luck with the boot camp. I have been having moderate success with Weight Watchers, myself.
Then again, I watched that Fat Rant on YouTube, and it makes me wanna run around eating alfredo in a halter top and talk about how sexy I am! :-D
March 29th, 2007 @ 11:11 am
I vote for the chained singles. Pretty both ways, though. I did some spinning recently and am looking for another color to ply with. Maybe green? with pink? maybe not?
Ang
March 29th, 2007 @ 11:18 am
You’ll love working out with a trainer!
Thank you for showing the differences. I like the way two ply looks with the barberpoling but you don’t really see that when it’s knit. For lace two ply is best (you want a flat, not round, fiber) but other wise it’s probably best to do three ply.
March 29th, 2007 @ 11:20 am
Such pretty yarns! I ordered the jumbo flyer and bobbins for my wheel and should have them by the end of the week. Whee!!!!
March 29th, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Great spinning! I’ve been working on my Navajo plying, with better success thanks to the inspiration I got from your blog! Good luck with “boot camp,” too. :)
March 30th, 2007 @ 8:16 am
ALL your yarn looks GREAT!!! It has got to be such a feeling of accomplishment to be able to say you knit with yarn that you spun yourself!! Congrats on the “boot camp”……I SOOOO need to join you….Middle age has hit!!! UGH!!
March 30th, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
I’m not sure about the whozits and whatnots regarding the yarn (i.e., the chained singles & different #’s of ply’s), but I definitely like the top photo best. The colors are more pronounced and I want to crawl into it. Yeah. We like :)
And like we sisters tend to do, I have also enlisted the help of a personal trainer. Although I am not going to be working out with her, because we are doing a trade out – sweat for tans, basically. So right now I have to write down everything I eat for two weeks, and we’ll go from there. I can tell you that even before this started, I have ceased eating white flour, white sugar, and carbonated bevs. And anything made with the previous three.
I’m still gaining weight.