No More Project Spinning
July 29th, 2007
I’ve learned a lesson recently: I’m no good at project spinning. I can get an even and consistent yarn alright. I can even guestimate somewhat on whether or not I have enough fiber. Eight ounces should be enough for a nice lacy shawl, right? Even if I do most of the shawl in stockinette, that should still be enough.
That’s what I had planned for this merino/silk blend that I have been spinning. For some reason, several nights ago I started to worry about the yardage I had. Actually, I first started worrying about whether or not the two colors I had planned to pair would really go together. Once I decided they might not go, I had to figure out whether or not I had enough yardage in one of the colors to do a shawl. I started to wind one skein onto the swift, which was hell. It was a tangled mass; I was anxious to figure something out; I was dealing with handspun and didn’t want to yank too much; I didn’t have near as much patience as I normally do fixing yarn tangles. It was hell.
__That__ was when I decided that I absolutely __had__ to start this shawl __right away__. This was the fit of passion I mentioned the other day. I had been waiting to finish all eight ounces of my fiber before starting this shawl, and I’ve been really wanting to get to this project. Add in a dash of startitis and you’ve got a late night ahead of you.
Here’s where I learn that I’m not a project spinner. Once I got over the h-heaven that was knitting this yarn (merino/silk!!), I realized that it was a lot thicker than I thought it was. It was near twice as thick as I’d dreamed or even realized. Keep in mind I was over halfway done spinning this eight ounces of fiber, so it’s not like I hadn’t seen the stuff.
This whole thing would have been solved by spinning a sample, which I rarely have the patience to do. First of all, spinning a sample when you only have a small amount of fiber feels like swatching with only one skein for a project. You can’t unravel your spinning like you can your knitting. Second, I don’t have the patience with spinning that I do with knitting. I get too excited thinking about the end result! Lesson learned; no more project spinning.
Now this isn’t a total disaster. I’m still knitting this shawl that I started in a fury, and I think I will end up loving it. It will be warm and soft, the colors are still beautiful, and I’m warming up again to the idea of knitting the two yarns into one shawl. We’ll see how far this first color gets me.
The yarn is lovely Kri, I can’t wait to see the shawl!