Spinning Jabba the Hut: Spinning, Plying, Drying, and Lust-Inducing Yarn

May 21, 2015 by curvylou 5 Comments

Now that I’m writing Part Two, I notice that, although these pictures are lust-inducing for me, for you this might be a bit less exciting than Part One.

The rest of the story is: and then I spun it. It took a while.

I made two judgement calls during this phase: I wanted the most yardage possible from these batts, and the samples of the spun yarn weren’t as blue as I’d hoped.

To conquer these two challenges, I first spun all three batts as singles, and then plied them with a strand of mostly-blue-something-else.

Here’s the Jabba on the bobbin. A lot less blue here, nyet?

And here’s our plying strand on the bobbin. This is a little bit of topaz tencel from Superior Fibers, and a lot of BFL/silk in Ancient Mariner, from Edgewood Garden Studio:

After spinning, the bobbins rest for a day before plying. This is hard for me to handle.

This resting period allows twist to distribute and settle, preventing the singles from tangling and coiling while you try to ply. If a spinner doesn’t have issues letting the yarn alone while it rests, I’m not sure I can relate to her.
 
Plied and on the swift. You can’t see it, but I am awash in drool:

Hanging to dry, aka Mystifying the Neighbors:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

So Gorgeous I Can’t Stop Taking Pictures and the Drool is Out of Hand:

720 yards of lust-inducing yarn.

Now. What do I do with it?