Spinning Saturday: Marigolds in Lincoln

It’s official. The first skein of handspun of the new year has been finished.

I chose some Lincoln that was given to me as a going away gift. The fibre is by Sue’s Crafts, in a colour I’ve called Marigolds. I’d not spun Lincoln before, in fact I’ve only ever spun one other longwool before. However, with a beautiful colour like this, I couldn’t resist any longer.

One of my goals for 2012 is to get a feel for spinning longwools. My previous experience was spinning some Wensleydale into laceweight singles. I wouldn’t vouch for the integrity of those singles, but I certainly learned a lot from doing it, especially as it was my first attempt at singles. Although I may never knit with that yarn, the experience it provided was extremely valuable.

My goal with this fibre was to spin a 3ply. Sue originally chose the Lincoln as she thought it would be great for socks, and I’m sure she’s right. I know I’d never get enough yardage out of 100g to knit socks in my size, so I figured the next best thing was mittens. Like socks, they need to be knit in a sturdy wool, there are thousands of patterns in a variety of yarn weights, and best of all (and unlike socks) you get to show them off in public. Longwools are more resistant to felting than finer wools, have a gorgeous sheen, and take dye beautifully. Isn’t that perfect for mittens?

I set my ratio to 16:1 (my default ratio) on my Kromski Symphony, split the fibre into 3 equal lengths, and let the fibre tell me how it wanted to be spun. My goal was to not have rope, something that is quite easy to do with longwools if you add too much twist.

I spun in a woollen style, similar to a supported longdraw, but from the top. This is still considered a worsted yarn, however, my goal was to keep the yarn as lofty as possible and I didn’t want to risk putting in too much twist by micro managing it in a worsted spinning style. The plying was done at a 10:1 ratio so I could manage the amount of twist at a slower pace. If I were to spin this yarn all over again (aiming for the same weight), I’d likely use a 10:1 ratio for the singles as well. It would have given me a little bit more control as I found myself treadling much slower than I normally would in order to compensate for the higher ratio.

I’m really pleased with the results. The final yarn is nothing like rope and is ready and waiting to become mittens, which I think will wear very well. I have 122 metres of an approximately worsted to aran weight yarn and plan to knit them up soon. I’m interested to test out the yarn/fibre in an actual wearable object before I start spinning my next braid of longwool so I can tweak my spinning process where necessary to achieve the best possible results.

The fibre itself was beautifully dyed and drafted wonderfully. It took we a little while to get to grips with the hair-like texture of the Lincoln, but it wasn’t difficult to spin. It does, however, have a tendency to slip as it doesn’t have the crimp to help with integrity and thus I’d not recommend it for a beginner. The beauty of the longwool is in the sheen. Those long, smooth fibres absolutely shine. The skein also has a lovely drape.

I had a bit of leftover on my bobbins and took the opportunity to try a mini skein of 2ply and a mini skein of navajo (chain) plied. I found the results interesting. I found the joins of the navajo plied skein to be very obvious, though I’m betting that they’d most disappear into the knitting. The 2ply skein was gorgeous, and from someone who isn’t found of 2ply yarns, that is saying a lot. The sheen was incredible, and it has lovely drape. It would be perfect for something like a lace shawl.

I have two other longwools stashed away — 200g of a Devon longwool and 115g of Romney. The Devon is being earmarked for socks, though I think I still have a bit of a learning curve to overcome before I can make a successful fingering weight 3ply yarn out of a longwool. I think it’ll be a great learning experience and it’ll really stretch and improve my skills as a spinner. I’m also thinking of trying some Massam or Teeswater. In for a penny, in for a pound. :)