Almost a year ago, I prepared the rolags for a spinning project. The fibre was from the Hedgehog Fibres Fibre Club December 2019, and it contained 50% merino wool, 25% silk, and 25% flax.
I had never spun with flax before, so that would be interesting to try. I really liked the fresh colours of this blend. First I divided the braids into 48 parts.
Then I blended 48 rolags on my blending board. I tried to randomly pick colours, so that the final result would not be too predictable. I also tried to divide the flax evenly, avoiding clumps of one type of fibre. Blending the fibre did mute the colours, because there was quite a bit of white in the fibre.
It took a little while, but then I had my suitcase full of rolags. I could start spinning!
I decided to spin thin singles this time, so I selected (mostly) The Spindle Shop Dyavols to do the job. Those spindles are fast and perfect for spinning lightweight yarns. I could fit two rolags on one spindle before it would start to affect my twist too much.
I spun quite a bit during the summer. But then I went on holiday. I didn’t want to bring my spindles with me, so I brought a knitting project. And then I adopted Puk and Pippi, and suddenly, spindles were toys!
I decided to keep knitting for a bit longer, and cast on my blanket. That took a while to finish as well (thank you, kittens). And when that was finally done, I decided to give spinning another try. The kittens are still very playful, of course, but they do take an afternoon nap that I can take advantage of. So, I finally was able to finish the project that I started in June 2021!
I tried to spin the same thickness as before the hiatus. Quite the challenge. I think I managed to do it, but to be sure that the yarn would turn out even, I plied the spindles in random order. That way, any discrepancies would be spread out evenly, instead of the yarn becoming thicker (or thinner) towards the end.
Then, finally, it was done! The yarn turned out to be light fingering weight: 1384 metres and 250 grams. I love the subtle colours, but I was not fond of the harshness of the flax. After washing the skein, that has improved a bit, so I’m hoping that it will become softer with time. I think that there should be just enough yarn for a summer tee.
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