Three new Handspun Yarns in June 2012 (pics)
Been very busy this month, first I finished Imogen's jumper that you saw in my last post, suddenly I got the urge to spin yarn again, after months of not being able to I am not sure what's happened but I dont seem to be able to stop myself now.
First up here is a Rich Halo of Shimmering Gold which is 265g 416 metres, 50g Natural Tussah Silk, 115g MHE Corriedale Warm Bright & Gorgeous, 80g MHE Kid Mohair Vintage Gold Teddy Bears, 20g Angelina Sparkles in Gold all naturally dyed by me last year
Had a lot of fun with this one, it took ages to spin, I started this one on Wednesday 12th October 2011 finishing it on Wednesday 13th June 2012, so a full eight months but it was worth being patient with this as I really do love the yarn now, its my first mohair of any kind and the sparkles are so beautiful just not showing up in any of the photographs which is a real shame. Proud of this one though, especially as it took me so long to get back into the rhythm for spinning it.
Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th June I was very busy spinning a super fine merino braid of fibre which was naturally dyed by Angelica for me which she named "Downton Abbey" which was into its first season whilst she was making this one.
The yarn was spun as a fractal yarn, fibre was prepared by splitting into two down its length, the first half spun on its own for the first single then the second half was split in half again then one piece in half again giving three pieces for the second single. The two singles were then plied together to give the most beautiful soft and lofty yarn I've ever produced. I absolutely adore everything about this one and simply have to include it in my jumper project.
Remember these? little fluffy bundles of super soft merino naturally dyed by Angelica for Christmas 2010, hand carded by Imogen with tussah silk and silver angelina sparkles for me last year. I put them away about this time last year when we knew for sure we were actually moving from the north of England to the south but during the house move somehow one bag containing half the bundles was lost. About two weeks ago we were moving around the living room furniture and stripping off the horrid wallpaper getting the room ready for decorating, the lost bag turned up.
Some of the bundles were badly squashed and had become in a dreadful state, it looks like the bag had been stuck under something really heavy like the antique welsh dresser or something similar and the bag was all ripped too.
Imogen and I carded some of the usable parts with more silk to make them softer and opened up all the other bits to let the air back in.
This week on Monday 18th I started spinning the fibres finishing with the plying taking place on and off all day Friday 22nd.
Its not the nice lofty smooth yarn I was expecting to have for my planned jumper project but its certainly full of character, not overspun, is nicely balanced, has knobs, bumps and snags of silkiness running throughout but I think I like it as it illustrates hard work and determination to get the job done. There were times when I nearly gave up on this one throughout the week but I plodded along and have ended up with a perfectly usable yarn which is just lovely, so silky and shimmers so much with all that sparkle.
So North and South Handspun yarn is 350g and comes in at 517.12m which is about an aran weight yarn that I feel completely proud of.
The last yarn is number 16 that I have spun on my SpinOlution Mach ll wheel Julius, its also my 25th handspun yarn in total since I started wheel spinning back in April 2010, I feel very proud of this achievement especially because of breaking my coccyx (tailbone) bone back on 31st October 2010 so was unable to sit for much time at all in order to get into a good rhythm for spinning yarns. Other obstacles over the past two years have included moving house over 325 miles, all the organising that came with that, my two oldest sons graduating from college then starting university, having Harvey transform from a baby into a toddler, breastfeeding him until May 8th 2011, whole heap of health issues on top as well as looking after our other three active children making sure their education was up to scratch all this time, its been an extremely difficult period for me and I am so very proud of all the little achievements I personally have made along the way. Having spun 25 yarns during perhaps some of the most difficult challenges I have been faced with makes me feel like I really do smash down obstacles so I can say "what obstacles?" and mean it whilst just getting on with my own thing to achieve things that make me feel happy on the inside. So it might not sound like much, but to me finishing the yellow and the green yarns here have made me feel extremely proud indeed as they symbolise difficulties from the past 24 months which are finally drifting away, finishing the yarns is like finishing with the issues as well once and for all, and that is something that is most definitely going to be celebrated tomorrow with a nice home cooked (low carbs low fat of course) family meal :)