Skein #30: A Color Scheme Other Than Monochrome

Image 1: Fiber Sample Image 2: Blended Fiber Image 3: Yarn Skein Image 4: Yarn Detail

Fiber

Wool

Type

Merino top

Reason for choice of this sample:

Merino top is easily available in a wide range of colors. It is soft and easy to work with for everyday yarns. The longer average length of the white fiber produces a top that also varies in value as well as color.

Source

Ashland Bay Merino top in blue, green and red from Carolina Homespun — San Francisco, California
White 20µm Australian Merino top from Virginia Farm Woolworks — Annangrove, NSW, Australia

Preparation for spinning

I layered the fibers on a wool comb used as a hackle and pulled striped top. In order, the colors are white, blue, white, green, white. Both the striped and red tops were drawn again before spinning.

Equipment Used

Two row wool combs, flyer spinning wheel

Type of spinning

Short backward draft

Direction of Twist

Z/S

Number of plies

3

Finishing

Washed and dried with light tension

Suggested uses

Knit or crochet for garments and lightweight afghans. This yarn is soft but not fragile and is good for everyday garment knitting. The colors and gentle thick and thin texture add interest to simple patterns without being flashy, a common design concern for menswear.

Notes

Maximum 54 points

Examiner 1: 51

Examiner 2: 45

Both note, as Examiner 1 put it, "Some size control difficulties." I designed this yarn to vary in thickness somewhat, not enough so a plain knit fabric would have obvious thin spots, but a little. The blend had fibers of two different lengths which tended to draft differently, so I let it.

There is no place in the documentation to describe specific details of spinning technique, so I had nowhere to write that the single with the red was spun from two tops successively, first the blend and then a bit of red. Each red spot is two worsted joins, all perfect. There are many yarns I wanted to say much more about, but the only place with enough room is "Suggested uses." Talking about specific aspects of design or spinning technique is not a discussion of a "suggested use."