What a long weekend!

Well, I'm finally done plying the Apple Blossom and there are 422 yards - whoot! Plenty of yarn to knit up socks, and it looks like the yarn is a fairly consistent fingering weight. Wow. I have to say, it turned out better than I thought it would. It's almost as consistent as my 2-ply Cormo. I'm no big fan of Navajo-plying, even though it's great fun to do, but I really dislike the way a Navajo-plied yarn does not like to ply nicely right up against the next loop. It's gets loose and "ugly" (imo), even though it won't show up in the actual knitting. I added in quite a bit of extra twist just for that reason, hoping there wouldn't be too much. Will wonders never cease?...there isn't. Another reason to celebrate! Here's the finished product:

I also discovered a woolen-spun, 3-ply (not Navajo-ply, but the 'real McCoy') worsted weight skein I'd spun up early this year (January, I think), squirreled away in one of my fiber drawers. Good Heavens. I remember being so impressed with myself that I'd gotten a whole 425 yards (before fulling). I ended up with 397 yards after fulling. Not bad, but I'm going to quit fulling my yarn :-) Everything but the kitchen sink went into this one, but all the fibers were soft - even the Shetland.
I was going for a next-to-the-skin, if i could manage it. I stuck with all natural colors, using black Merino, brown/grey Shetland, cream and brown Finn-Lincoln (VERY soft and fluffy) fleeces, and (I think!) some of my oatmeal-creamy Bluefaced Leicester. Heaven only knows what else I found to throw in there!

It all turned out quite nicely, much to my amazement. At the time, I was a new spinner of only 2 months, and felt that everything I did looked crummy and had a 'why would anyone want to buy that junk'? mentality.

A LESSON LEARNED...

NEVER - but never! - Navajo-ply delicate Merino singles. harrumph.

I'm nearly done plying the Apple Blossom. I sure hope it fits on my one bobbin! I think I'm going to have to swear off using only Merino to spin with, as it just really wants to float apart during plying, even if I use a high twist to spin the singles. It's SO frustrating to have it break during plying, but it's ten times worse if you're Navajo plying - augh! One needs a minimum of 3 hands to fix it, and 4 would be better! When I'm doing this, I make SURE one of the kids is home to help provide the needed extra fingers.

Apologies for the blurry photo of the 2 bobbins. I DO wish I could figure out how to take good closeups!

Apple Blossom - a Reprise

Okkkaaaay ... remember those photos of my current work-in-progress (Apple Blossom merino roving) that just 'disappeared' into the aether the other day? Well...! There they were. Big as life. Right on my camera.

Even though we'd deleted them. Even though the camera swore up and down that its card was empty. Even though they were downloaded onto my computer, never to be seen again...

There they were! Sheesh. SO...for an update and a photo upload of what I had gotten done:


Yes, I know. They're blurry and the photo-coloring seems (to me) to be slightly on the 'yellowish' side. I don't know what's wrong with this Canon S5IS, but probably nothing; ten-to-one, it's operator error...or just bad lighting. The bobbin is now full to capacity as I've only 2 feet left of roving. I'll try to post a completed pic as soon as I can (after I've plied it).