Curiosity Kills The Cat Every Time

More and more, I find myself picking up odd habits these days.

These two skeins have been at my side all day today. They’ve mostly been spending time drying because I didn’t finish this yarn until 2am this morning. I just had an itch to get an FO this week, I guess. Plus, as always, I wanted to know what it would look like… These are 2-ply and one singles was made up of the yarn that I spun from part combed top and part hand-carded rolags.

See how the front end of this poorly evened out bobbin is less fuzzy and lumpy than the later half? That’s because of little bits of fluff like these.

Imperfections in the wool are called “neps”. I told you I needed more practice carding. Neps can come from how the fleece was handled during shearing or how it is handled when it is prepped to be spun. I can’t say which these come from with 100% certainty…but I blame my noobness. It seemed like every five inches or so there was another nep popping up from the rolags. They tend to make the drafting where they come up difficult. So, what you end up with is a slubbier yarn. Depending on what you’re going for, say a very rustic looking yarn, it would be desirable. But I really just wanted to see both singles side-by-side using the same drafting method. I’m just nosey like that.

Can you see the difference? The funny thing is this whole singles was completed using a short backward draft. Only the fiber prep was changed here. Crazy, huh?

The other half of the yarn was this commercially prepared merino top I got with my first wheel from Paradise Fibers.

I started this bobbin ages ago and it was way better evened out. But, I think that I began this with a short forward draft. But, as I said, I really, REALLY wanted an FO and that short backward draft goes faster for me. So I ended this spin with that instead. Are you keeping up? In this singles, then, the fiber prep did not change. It was just the drafting method that changed. Though I did not get a photo of that before darkness fell, it was very similar to the first in that the second half of the bobbin had various inconsistencies, though it did not have slubs, really. But, then, it is commercially prepared top. It’s not really the best prep for slubbing around.

But, as you saw the end in the beginning, you already know what I did with it. I adulterated every bit of it! The whole mess of it in one yarn. Mwuahaha! It was fun. :)

And, the oddest thing has been happening these days. After I wet finished and hung them to dry, I went to bed, fully expecting them to be damp when I got up about three and a half hours later. And, they did not disappoint. So, I took them to work so that I could have them with me. A little overboard, maybe? This isn’t the first time I have done that either. It’s odd. But I like to look at them and see how they are doing from time to time and I can’t do that if they are at home and I’m at work, right? :)

Time for one other little update.