Love to Spin

I have been having the best time at my spinning wheel lately. Okay, when do I not have a great time??  I have been spinning some beautiful batts that I purchased from Inglenook Fibers on Etsy (www.InglenookFibers.etsy.com) and deciding how to spin each batt is so much fun.  This batt was called "Redwood Forest" with lovely reds, wines, oranges, gold and greens.  The fibers include:  merino, silk, alpaca, wool, bamboo, silk noil, flax and bits of angelina.

 I opened up the batt and it was even more beautiful.  Such a color sense.  

I decided to peel this batt down into strips and as I began spinning, I decided that instead of plying this beauty, I would spin it into some sportweight singles.

Finished skein:  206 yards, 3.5 oz.  This has some little sparklies from bits of angelina which don't show up, but they are there.  

I have added some new fiber blends to my repetoire of handpainted rovings and, of course, I always like to spin the new fibers I offer for sale.  This skein was spun using two different fiber blends plied together.  

One of the plies was Polwarth/Tussah Silk (85/15) in my colorway "Macaw" (in the background) and the other ply was mixed Blueface Leicester/Tussah Silk (85/15) in my colorway "Joseph's Coat" (like the rose), in the foreground.  This skein is 342 yards, 4.1 oz.  This skein is calling out to be knit into a pair of socks.

My latest spinning project is using two Inglenook Fibers batts.  The first one was called "Ilsa".  Fibers include:  merino, wool, silk, alpaca, silk noil, sari silk, firestar and angelina.  I opened the batt and split it into thirds and attenuated the fiber into a roving.  I spun each one-third beginning with the dark plum end.  

On the bobbin, spun fairly thin.

The second batt that I am spinning is called "Moss Rose".  Fibers include:  merino, wool, bamboo, silk, alpaca, silk noil, firestar, and angelina.  Again, I opened up the batt and split it into thirds.  

I attenuated each third into a long roving as I did the "Ilsa" batt.

This time, though, I did the opposite and spun each third from the light colored end.  My thought is that when I ply the two bobbins together, I want the light colors to cross over the darker colors.  We shall see.  Plying time tonight.  Work now -- continuing to handpaint fibers in preparation for Black Sheep Gathering.