spindling with a Ledbetter

second verse
same as the first..

I love this spindle. I showed it to you last October.  It is from Ken Ledbetter.   To break it in, I decided to spin something special, Foxfires' Cashmere Silk blend.  Last Friday evening, on a motel balcony somewhere in Delaware, the last bit was spun.  Wednesday, I got around to plying.

When I skeined this, I measured out 446 yards.  Impossible!  I have spindle spun two different fibers during the past year, on two different spindles and come out with the same yardage.  Yeah, both weigh in at approx. 3 oz.  I must be on a roll.  There were 6 cops of the cashmere / silk to ply.  Somewhere, there is another ounce of fiber or more little bundles waiting for me to find them.  I bought 4 ounces, not three. 

Thing is, I don't like it. Here is the problem.  As I spun them I worried that I was putting on too much twist.  The single felt hard.  But, as I wanted a solid feeling yarn, I kept at it.  I thought I'd plied it accordingly.  As I plied, I checked it, it twisted back on itself a little bit.  Not too much.  Maybe plying in daylight would have helped, because I really didn't see this coming.  It looks under plied.  The skein hung straight when I took it off the bobbin.

It was still straight and apparently balanced after a nice long soak in very warm water, hung over the line without weight and dried.  Here's a close-up.

   It's going onto the swift to have a little more twist added. 

Comments

[elizabeth]

This is really interesting to me because it seems there's a debate in the fiber world about under/over plying. I just recently heard of attempting to get a balanced yarn as you ply it; as I tried to do so, the resulting yarn was underplied (to my eye) and rather lifeless. I guess I prefer a bouncier yarn!

[Beth S.]

But if you add more twist, won't you lose the nice balance you have right now?...

I think it's lovely, but I understand that little whisper of dissatisfaction. I hear it all the time too. ;-)

[Laurie]

It's such a crapshoot sometimes. I wish I knew how to make it more predictable. I've signed up for SOAR. You?

I can see your mind...yarn...begonias....

[jessie]

You are very dedicated to re-ply. I would have said it won't show in the final knitting. But that's me, sloppy. :-)

[margene]

I would say to knit a bit of it and see what you think. It looks gorgeous!

[claudia]

Lovely last picture.

[Kathy]

I bet you'll change your mind once it's knit up.

[Roxie]

Cashmere/silk in shades of pink going unloved? If the swifting doesn't work, I will buy it from you. Sooooo pretty!! Lust and craving.