A Cricket in a Frosted Forest

Two different handspun FOs this week. First up is Cricket, from the very first installment of the HYFC. I had spun up most of the original 4 oz when I received it, to make my grandmother's Branching Out, but I had a bit left over. This

became this,

which, after washing became this:

Fiber: BFL, colorway "Cricket", Hello Yarn Fiber Club May 2007 offering
Spun on a bottom whorl spindle.
13 wpi, 72 yds in 1.4 oz/40 g (about DK weight)
I spun the singles fairly tightly and overplied (that would be picture #2). The twistyness was tamed pretty well by a hot-cold shock wash, and hanging to dry unweighted. Not much yardage there, but could work for something small for the kids.

Just off the wheel and finally dried is Frosted Forest:

Fiber: 50/50 wool/soy silk top, colorway "Frosted Forest", HYFC December installment
Spun at 9:1, ST Lendrum, not plied.
16 wpi, 128 yds in 4.2 oz/119 grams. I was aiming for DK weight but ended up closer to fingering weight.
I wanted to preserve the intensity of the colors, so I decided to spin this as a singles yarn (my first). I pulled off chunks and spun from the fold, semi-long draw, but smoothing down the single as I went. To finish, I again did a hot-cold shock wash to felt the singles a bit and keep them together. The felting part definitely worked! - I tried to rewind it on my niddy noddy after washing to get everything aligned again, and it took me three evenings to get it untangled and back in a skein! There are sections that are a bit overtwisted, but on the whole it's fairly balanced, and I love the shininess of the soy silk. I'm not sure I'd want to spin 100% soy silk (holy slippery Batman!), but 50% was ok. And the colors are gorgeous. Now I have to find a pattern for 120 yds of fingering weight.

Verdant is on the wheel now, in the "laceweight" incarnation, and I suspect it will be keeping me busy for quite a while. And the secret project is done, I'm happy with it, and now am in the throes of pattern writing so I can submit it and see what other folks think.