FF: Baked Alaska

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club October 2007 fiber, Romney wool in Baked Alaska colorway
Spun on ST Lendrum at 10:1, plied at 7:1, 12-13 wpi
200+ yds, 5 oz

This was my first attempt at both spinning from the fold and spinning long draw. I didn't mean to try two new things at once - spinning from the fold was the goal, but once I started I was having so much fun letting the fibers flow off of my finger that I tried just pulling back with that hand and, lo and behold, I was spinning long draw (or sort of long draw. Maybe more like medium draw). And boy, is that a lot faster then inchworm drafting.

I split the top lengthwise in to two equal sections (by weight). One half I tore into 4-5 inch chunks, stuck them in a ziplock bag, and pulled them out randomly to spin the single. It took me about 1.5 hours to spin the first 2.5 oz (hardly any time at all, for me). The second half I also spun from the fold, but tore off pieces as I went down the length of the top, maintaining the color sequence as dyed.

I've become a big fan of rough finishing my handspun, aka soaking it in really hot water with a bit of agitation, so that any changes that are going to happen, happen before the yarn gets knit up into something. I also tend to overply, so this kind of finishing helps even out the yarn and get it closer to balanced once it's dried and ready to go.

Some very over-plied yarn before its bath

The spinning for this was fast and furious. It was all done (spun and plied at least) in three days, assisted immeasurably by the fact that I was home with sick kids for at least two of those days. It is pretty fuzzy around the edges, due to my attempts to spin "woolen". Now that it's done it's very pretty - I love the combination of the colors - but I'm not such a fan of the Romney wool. It just feels coarse to me. Maybe I'm spoiled from the merino I've been working with recently, but this feels too scratchy for me.

I'm thinking this one will go in to the stash to marinate for a bit. Maybe it will be a wee Christmas present for one of the few friends/relatives I have that knit. And now I may have to call a moratorium on spinning for a while until I get my list down to something more managable.