Once again, when I pulled the center strand from my yarn ball, I caught too much and had a little wad of yarn. Previously I have spent considerable time untangling errant threads when trying to ply in this situation, but this time I carefully wrapped the excess yarn into a butterfly on my fingers, and held the small ball of yarn in my palm. There were still some tricky spots, but it went much smoother this way, until I got back to having even pull from the inside and outside of my ball. Wrapping yarn nostepinne style is my favorite way to make a center-pull ball of yarn, and making a two-ply yarn from a single ball is my favorite for when I am walking and spinning. I can take the ball of yarn off my spindle, snag the inside end, and start plying immediately, without having to transfer the yarn first. (And the balls of yarn with their slanted wrap are pleasant to look at.)

I have three natural colors of alpaca fiber, all washed and ready for prep. How can I combine these colors? What are the effects of different preparation methods? I rather like marled (streaked) yarn, will these three colors combine well for that effect? Time for new experiments!

I carded one small batt of each color. Rather than rolling the fibers into rolags (which is the method recommended in the instructions, and rolls the fibers perpendicular to the fiber direction), I stacked the three batts together, then rolled them parallel to the fiber direction, then pre-drafted the roll. This distributed the colors randomly, which is what I was after. I did try using a shell with holes as a diz (which is used to pull fibers off combs to make roving), but found that pre-drafting with my hands worked just fine.

I spun up two of these preparations as a clockwise single, then plied counterclockwise, then plied clockwise again to make a four-strand cable-plied yarn. All if this was done on my homemade spindle while I was walking the neighborhood (NOT, I repeat, not, in the same day! It took three walks.)

The yarn has an interesting look. The next step is to see what it looks like in samples, probably with nålbinding. Ok, maybe I’m a little optimistic, the real next step will most likely be to see if I can replicate this process, then compare it to at least two other processes (because that is what is in my head at the moment), then make everything up into… something.

This phrase goes through my head often lately. Wonder why.

My balsam-colored Blue-Faced Leicester and silk blend spinning is done. Spun and plied entirely during walks around the neighborhood. Ok, well except for getting the cop started and detangling, which were more efficiently done sitting at home. I have a plan for this yarn, but it involves knitting, which is not my favorite, so may take awhile (to get started and to finish). Plans change, though, so maybe another possibility will present itself in the meantime.