Spinning Saturday: We're off to see the Wizard

I hadn’t planned to share this bit of spinning with you today, I had something else planned. I was keeping this fibre to spin in March, but it jumped on the wheel ahead of schedule. Just like that. One minute it was fibre on the shelf, next thing I know I was skeining up yarn. It was off the wheel so fast I almost got whiplash.

The fibre is some Masham in the ‘Emerald City’ colourway (inspired by ‘The Wizard of Oz) , from Spunky Eclectic. It is actually a club colourway, but I received it from my friend Maggie as a ‘congrats on Thing 2’ gift. I’m hoping at some point to join the Spunky Club, but until then, I’ll enjoy remembering my first spin of her fibre.

Masham is a longwool fibre. (It’s also a lovely town in NorthEast England with two good breweries and a sheep festival. ) The staple length of my fibre was a little over 8 inches, and I knew that called for a gentle touch. I decided on a low twist single, so I pulled out Gracie (my Louet Victoria) and set her up on the biggest whorl for a 1:6 ratio. I decided to go for slow and thick, which since I normally spin fast and thin was a bit of a change of direction for me. I showed the yarn to my husband and even he remarked how thick the singles were. Needless to say, I was really please to achieve a DK weight single. Getting thicker is going to require a lot of practice.

I even pulled out my WPI gauge to make sure. 12 WPI. It’s official. It is a DK weight yarn.

The yarn has a nice twist, good integrity, and not the least bit rope-like. At 190m over 110g, I’m really chuffed with the final yarn. I’m a bit sad it isn’t the technicolour skein I imagined it would be, though. It is lovely and I’m looking forward to knitting with it, but it more real world colour than technicolour. That’s okay. I’d look silly in a pair of ruby slippers anyway.

In all, the fibre was excellently dyed and prepared, and it was an absolute joy to spin. I’m already looking forward to my next longwool breed in my personal 2012 challenge.