Finished!

My second favorite “f” word! This time it’s spinning stuff. I’m still working on Big Pink, I’m getting closer, closer. There’s been another impending baby announced in the family (different parents, another grand-nephew on the way!), so I better get moving. I’d like to finish this project before the next baby arrives. I tell you, these kids better stop multiplying for a little bit and let me catch up.

OK, the spinning. The first is a spindle project, and one of my February finishing goals. Here’s the finished yarn:

Click to embiggen, but remember these pictures were taken in the house in February, at the end of a very grey rainy day. The fiber was a batt from Butterfly Girl, and is a merino/bamboo blend, color name Blue Morpho. I spun this on a tiny stone whorl spindle, also from Butterfly Girl, and plied it on my Bosworth Midi spindle. This is a 2 ply. Here are the stats:

357 yards

96.2 g

This comes out to about 1684 yards per pound, or ypp. Here’s a web page that describes this, according to this, my yarn should be about a sport weight. That looks about right. It’s heavenly soft. I think it would be a great cowl or scarf.

Next is fiber from Corgi Hill Farm. This was a merino/silk blend with a little firestar sparkle, also a batt. The color was Raven’s Wing, spun and plied on my Schacht wheel. Finished weight was 4.53 oz, yardage 468 yards. YPP is 1671, which puts it in the sport weight category. The fiber was just divine, as is all of her fiber.

These are really hard to get photos of in February in western Washington, when it’s been raining all day. I might have to actually drag out my cheap lightbox and give this another try at some point. It’s gotten buried somewhere around here.

Last but not least is a very long term spinning project.

This one, I’m very proud of. Click on that photo to get a better idea of what it looks like. This started out last summer as 3 pounds of corriedale fiber from Louet, purchased from Paradise Fibers. The color is Pagoda Red, and isn’t quite as lipstick red as in that photo. I really will have to drag this out the next time we get sun and try another photo. It is more of a rust red than a ruby or garnet red. I wasn’t all that excited with the color when I got it, but now that it’s spun up, it is perfect for my coloring.

This was spun and plied (2 ply) on my wheel. It’s generally a worsted spun, as much as anything I spin is generally anything. I spun it with the wheel in Scotch drive. The finished weight of the yarn is 1315.7 grams, or 46.4 oz. The yardage is 2138 yards, giving me a ypp number of 737.2. This is pretty much a heavy Aran weight yarn. It is a little uneven in sections, but is way more consistent than I thought it would be for 3 pounds of fiber spun over 6 months. I think this will make a terrific sweater, which was my goal. It might even be next up in the queue, if I ever finish that True Blood sweater thing.

That’s it for the finished stuff. Oh yeah, I also finished sorting through all my yarns and fibers. After we got the closets done, I realized that I had a lot of empty space left over, so I dragged out all the yarn boxes and sorted through them. They desperately needed a little weeding out and reorganizing. I have one big box of yarn that is going on the for sale block at some point, I just haven’t decided how I want to do that. I’m not sure I have enough readers here to put it up on the blog, but if there’s enough interest I might be convinced to sell it off here first and then put the leftovers on Ebay or something. It’s all pretty good stuff, I just needed to get a little realistic about what I might actually knit up in the next few years. After I sorted it all out, it ALL fits in my closet, which makes me happy. If it’s out where I can see it, I’m hoping I’ll be more likely to shop the stash instead of those internet yarn stores that seem to be open 24/7/365.

Oh, OK, here’s a photo or two.

Yeah, I know that’s a boat load of yarn. John mentioned a business concept known as “just in time inventory“. I clearly need to take this under advisement, since I actually only finish knitting about three things a year.

Dorothy, now all the yarn is out of the guest bedroom, so you won’t be tempted any more when you come to visit!

And last but very not least, I now have room in my closet to do the sock laundry. Here’s proof.

That’s it. We’re off to the theater for the evening, then a late dinner afterwards.