Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The latest spin...

The plan is set for the Shetland! I spun up a bobbin full and plied it. Since I'm going to knit a folkish sweater I decided to give Navajo plying a test run. I wasn't sure about it as I was plying, but now that the swatch is done, I can't think of any reason not to go with it. I like Navajo plying because it's fast, and if the spinning is going out of control it'll show up sooner than later. So 3-ply Navajo it is. I like the result. The yarn has lovely loft. It's going to be a warm sweater. Size 10 needles. The pics below show my testing progress. The plied yarn on the wheel, on the niddy-noddy, as a hank, as a ball with the finished swatch. The last pic is the pattern I'm going to knit. I found it in a used book store in my home town of Enfield, NH--Bearly Used Books--early last December. It's an old Candide pattern for a Portuguese Fisherman Pullover or "Malha de Pescador." ( www.patternfish.com/patterns/872 ) A better picture of the swatch follows.

4 comments:

  1. Your swatch is beautiful, so even.

    I've navajo-plyed with a drop spindle, and I loved the result that way, too.

    Looking forward to your sweater!

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  2. Thanks, Michele. :)

    3 plies certainly helps even things out. Although I believe I'm starting to "get" this lot of Shetland I have. Funny how almost every new bunch of fiber is somewhat intimidating and I fret that I don't know enough, that I'll waste a lot, and won't know how to work it. Miraculously--it happens consistently--after winging it a bit, it's almost as if the fiber starts to communicate and lets me know what to do. So it is with this Shetland. Spinning is like listening with one's hands. Hee hee.

    Oh, and how ingenious were the Navajos!!!

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  3. "Spinning is like listening with one's hands."

    More than that even! It's like listening with one's heart and soul. :) I think all art and craft is like this.

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  4. Just last night I was finishing part 1 of Rita Buchanan's "How I Spin" ( http://www.interweavestore.com/Spinning/Video/How-I-Spin.html -- I totally recommend this video and will probably write a post about it ) and couldn't help but wonder at how she doesn't follow rules except those that her hands/heart and soul--and mind have taught her, having been informed by the fibers she's worked with and the projects she had in mind.

    Part I has been fantastic, cant' wait to watch part II.

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