Still Spinning

Quick update on the wheel. I basically have two options.

One, find someone to make a flyer for my wheel. Not very difficult for a carpenter, and if we were closer to home I would try to enlist my father in this project, but this is unlikely since we’re separated by a couple states and I don’t know any woodworkers here in the area.

Two, buy a flyer kit (then the next decision is which type: jumbo flyer, lace flyer, or standard flyer) and tweak my wheel to make it work. Not too daunting, but requiring a little time and money, so that’s going to go on hold until I can decide what I want. Ideally, someone would have an unused flyer kit to sell cheap, but I’m guessing this is also unlikely.

So while those ideas marinate, I’ll show off my newest work. First, I finished spinning singles of my brown BFL and then I made a yarn cake with my yarn ball winder.

Aubrey demonstrated how she plies from a yarn ball. Under her tutelage, I plied and my result was 64 yards of my beautiful two-ply yarn. I still need to wash it to set the twist, but I think I will do so in the coming days.

If you needed further evidence of my growing addiction, over the long Easter weekend, I spun up eight ounces of roving (hand-dyed BFL in the “As Above, So Below” colorway, also from Crown Mountain Farms).

Here’s the before shot of the roving.

And the singles on the spindle.

Finally, the plied yarn, which is just over 215 yards.

The colors are beautiful. Spinning it, I was enamored with the subtle changes from dark greens to aquas and then blues and milder greens. Once you ply it together, though, it becomes more uniform in color. While I haven’t yet measured, it looks like it’s worsted weight, but it’s growing ever thinner – and more consistent – and I haven’t given up hope of creating some sock yarn down the road.

Alas, I have come to a predictable end. My time with the borrowed wheel is in the home stretch, and I am out of roving, unless I count the cashmere-merino blend I was reserving for a pair of thrummed mittens.