To In-Spin-ity And Beyond!*

I'm on a spinning binge and I love it.

It started last week, when I realized that I needed to get some plying done before the Saturday guild meeting. I could have left the full bobbins at home and started something new, but I was already halfway through the process. So on Friday night I finished up a skein of pink 2-ply BFL, from Fleece Artist (pictured below). As usual my finished yarn is a bit underplied, even though I made some changes in my plying techniques (shifted to a faster whorl, used new tensioned Lazy Kate)--but it's usable and I learned a lot.

The addiction truly kicked in on Saturday, when I was gabbing with friends at guild and I pulled out a new bag of fiber. (Well, I bought it a year ago--at the guild meeting, no less--but it hadn't been touched yet!) The fiber is from Pleasant Valley Farm (Cumberland, ME--no website) and it is a Romney/mohair mix (70/30) in a gorgeous shade of purple with some traces of green and gray. The preparation was lovely, and just perfect for using the long draw. Which, you know, I have only done successfully once before. But the thought of some lofty, squooshy, bulky singles was so tempting: so fast! No need to ply!

I filled an entire bobbin at the meeting.

I filled another bobbin on Sunday night. And another on Monday night.

And two last night.

Get the picture?
The yarn is not perfect. It is thick and thin, unevenly spun. But oh, it is so lofty and squooshy. And I find spinning with a long draw to be just magical. You take a length of fluff, and you pull your arm back, and it is suddenly yarn! The part I love best is when you give the length a tug to pull out some of the slubs, and the yarn ripples and elongates--but holds together.

So cool.

The skeins come off the wheel looking like this, with lots of little curlicues....

...but once they are washed and dried (without weighting) they are pretty balanced, with only occasional squiggly thin spots.

I haven't calculated my yardage yet. I still have about one more bobbin to go. But I'll be looking for project ideas soon!

*Susan--I'm guessing that you will recognize the inspiration for this quote...anyone else?