In the process of going through old photos, I found another experimental project I did with spinning for self-striping yarn. I should have kept a written record of what I did so I have better information to share. But it's hard, you know? I was so excited to get my hands on this project and I just went for it. Note to self: write. it. down. Anyway, here's what I remembered.
I selected three different carded batts by Fiber Monster (that's me!) and rolled them widthwise. I had two sets of them in the same order. One set was for bobbin #1. Another set was for bobbin #2. My plan was to spin each set starting from the same end so that I got the same color sequence on both bobbins.
Top to bottom: Grasshopper, Jewel, and Happy Valley
Pre-drafted into balls. Ready for spinning bobbin #1
When you pre-draft and spin the fiber, make sure you start with the same color sequence for both sets of fiber. In this case, I started with blue, yellow, and green. I did the regular 2-ply and the colors were mostly matched. Occasionally there was a barber pole section but it was fine with me. I like a little bit of color transitioning. If the barber pole was too long and you don't like the contrast, just break the single and find the match to rejoin.
Smooth two-ply, DK weight
Don't know how many yards. Approximately 6 oz total
Love the color transitions!
Knitted from the top down in one piece. No seaming :)
It took me a long time to find the pattern I liked to knit with this self-striping handspun yarn. I basically looked for the pattern that is knit-in-one-piece, in the round with circular needle. Then I came across Tivoli T-Shirt by grumperina, which I kept in my pattern binder before I even know how to spin! I just checked her website hoping to make a link but I could only find the picture of it. The link itself is broken. If you are interested, you can try it on ravelry or go to http://www.grumperina.com and contact her directly for current information.
There are lots of instruction out there for spinning self-striping yarn. And I would love to hear your thoughts on the techniques you like. Most of all, it's FUN!!!
Happy spinning/knitting to you all.
My first thought is "Oooooh, pretty". But then again, I love your colors and for an educated woman with a decent sized vocabulary I am regularly reduced to "Oh, Ooooh, and pretty"
ReplyDeleteI liked the information on self striping with spinning. I was thinking of doing some striping with spinning and was going to try to plan it so that it worked out plying the ends to the middle as I usually do but now, I think I will instead use separate bobbins. Might be more successful that way. I also only have two different rovings planned. I think I might add one or two more colors to the mix (pink and green so far)...
Thanks again for your wonderful colors. I will be posting some new Ruby pics soon.