Heatwave

Heatwave, fresh off the drying rack

Remember this NBK Shetland fiber that I purchased way back when? The blog says May 25, 2014. That's over 2 years that this has sat in my fiber stash. Granted, I don't actually spin as much as I would like myself to (in my ideal version of self, not in terms of free time), but this is still a bit ridiculous.

Tiny tiny skein

This is all leading up to say that I finally finished spinning the remainder of Heatwave on my Lendrum! It came up to a lot less than I expected (the finished skein is only 70g and has approximately 158 yards to it, in what I'm estimating at fingering/sport weight), but I'm glad that that's finally off my list! The spinning itself took very little time once I actually applied myself, and finished yarn came out pretty nicely if I do say so myself. The only issue was with the dye running - mostly reddish browns in the water - which I hope has been fixed with the healthy dose of citric acid that I added afterwards. I'm thinking of using it to make colourwork mittens.

Lendrum niddy noddy in pieces (1 & 2 yards)

Encouraged by how easily and quickly I spun this fiber up, I went and got myself a Lendrum niddy noddy - I had been using the backs of two chairs placed together up till now, and while it worked, I have to say they weren't optimal working conditions - as well as 1lb of Louet Black Norwegian Top. The fiber was an unplanned purchase, but I was so surprised at how incredibly dark the fiber was that I decided right then and there to spin and knit myself a black turtleneck (I've been reading At the Existentialist Cafe, and something about black turtlenecks being the quintessential existential sartorial choice just stuck).

Louet Black Norwegian Top x 2 = 1lb

A rather risible goal if you look at my track record: I've spun half a pound of Corriedale (2013), 100g of merino (2015), and 4oz of Shetland (above, 2016). Tack on some more bits of fiber here and there and you get the sum total of my spinning career. But I'm determined to make this work this time, since the fiber practically grabbed me and demanded to be made into a turtleneck once I saw it. Who am I to refuse? And so, I've purchased the conveniently on-sale Craftsy class, Drafting from Worsted to Woolen, in order to actually learn how to spin, since I've sort of just been doing it willy nilly thus far. (Everything after that Corriedale was spun using a short forward draw, essentially.)

It says Spelsau on the Louet website but why not say that instead of Norwegian?

So I'm aiming for a fingering-weight singles that's lofty and plush, since this yarn is incredibly soft and I'd like to keep that soft airy quality in the finished sweater. I'm leaning heavily towards spinning long draw on the fold, since I've spun up a sample that way as well as one using long draw with pre-drafted strips, and while both are overtwisted and the one spun on the fold is still drying and has yet to be knitted up, it kind of looks and feels lighter and all-around more like what I'd like it to be than the first sample.

And in the worst case scenario, even if I don't get a turtleneck out of this, at least I'll have learned something about spinning, right? Or one should hope.