Last year, I spun some stunning silk Hanks in the Hood (cascade Head Silk) hankies purchased from KnitPicks. Unfortunately, I did not have enough yardage to make much of anything. I purchased two more sets of these hankies so I could spin some more. (I also purchased more because I was unsuccessful at dyeing my own silk very dark to coordinate with what I've already spun.)
AND now I have a spinning wheel. Guess where I am going to spin this silk? Sorry good old drop spindle buddy, I have moved on. Since the silk is hard to draft, I am still planning on doing a lot of pre drafting, but we'll see how well I do as I start spinning.
There is no dye lot... and there are very different amounts of color between the two different sets of hankies. I am not worried about this because it is a completely handmade project, and it will still look lovely.I could mix the two hankies together (alternating from either batch), but I am not going to bother. I pulled each hankie apart in the pink section, always connecting pink to pink which each new hankie.
The quality of these hankies are MUCH nicer than the ones I purchased and dyed myself off of etsy. They draft MUCH easier. I am therefore doing much less predrafting than I originaly thought I would.
I am spinning much tighter (thinner?) than I did last time. Maybe from the picture it isn't as bad as I thought. I always forget that the yarn can relax and plump up a bit as you are setting the twist. My spinning isn't as even as I had hoped it to be... but this is ultimately a good thing. Some of the imperfections are almost like nupps. It means that the finished product will be more similar to what I created on the drop spindle. I am using the faster (smaller, 8:1 I think) whorl since the predrafting makes the spinning go really fast.
Last time it felt like it took forever to spin the silk. This time around, it only took me an afternoon to spin an entire 0.5 oz stack of hankies. Wahoo for the speed of the wheel! Two days and I was done spinning this project. (Since my plan is to use this for a shawl, I want it light an airy, so no plying this time.)
I realized part way through that I got lazy and was drafting multiple hankie layers at one time. The only problem with this is that the color repeats are going to be completely erratic and not consistent with the first hundred+ yards of this silk that I spun. Whoops! (But it will still be LOVELY.)
One piece i measured was 27 wpi, but there is a fair amount of variation from really lace to fingering. This will be pretty (and hopefully not too fragile.)
I jinxed myself! I was explaining to Keith how i had some breaks in the yarn when I was winding from the drop spindle to niddy noddy and that this wasn't happening with my new Lazy Kate... and the yarn broke with a few yards left to wind. At least this was because it was too thin and not because it was unwinding like with the spindle!
294 wraps = 1176 ft = 392 yards. Wahoo! With the other that I spun this is absolutely enough for a shawl! 34 g.
I love the way the yarn almost looks like it is one color but there are these wonderful flecks of pink, blue and green. I cannot wait to make something out of this yarn! (I am considering making another Annis Shawl.)
finished spinning 12/17/2012
