This project is one of my favourites to date. It is made from some gorgeous fibre from limegreenjelly. Back in August I talked about my first Fibreholics package. My favourite colours and prep, from that package, came from limegreenjelly and I decided to buy from there. This is one of my braids.
This glorious fibre is a merino/silk blend and there is no tangible difference between the two types of fibres, it is blended so thoroughly. I spun this on my Medium Weight Wildcraft Tibetan Spindle and decided to do it as a true 3-ply. I spun it worsted and the spinning isn't that even, but I don't care. I just loved the feel of this fibre as I spun it.
I didn't split this according to colour, I just spun it as it came, and because of this the yarn is completely barber-poled. The colours are so glorious I just didn't want to stop and think while spinning.
I love 3-ply yarn, it is so round and plump and the way these colours blend together is lovely. Even my partner, who has no interest in fibre, spinning or knitting, commented on how lovely this yarn is.
The yarn ended up being a sport weight and I only have 148m but then I only used 94g of the fibre. This is because I had lots of single plies left over because of the uneven nature of the spinning. You can see it more clearly in the photo above. Because some of the singles were thinner or thicker than others, when I divided the singles by weight one of the bobbins had less on it than others. I ended up doing a 2-ply with the remaining yarn and I didn't measure it or have any use for it, it was just an exercise in plying. It looks nice though.
I recently took the Craftsy Class with Felicia Lo on Spinning Dyed Fibers and I now think I will spin the other braid from limegreenjelly in a different way. I will try and be more mindful about the way the colours are spun. I am so glad I took this class, as I learnt so much about the way colours work in spun fibre. I highly recommend it if you are a spinner.
Though I have said that I will spin the next braid differently, I still love this yarn and will be quite happy to sit and squish it until I find the right project to knit it into.
As an aside, the dye from this fibre leached out quite significantly when I soaked the yarn. I ended up rinsing it several times until the dye seemed to be stable. I will be interested to see if the other braid behaves the same way when I spin it. It may be that it is simply because the colours are so rich and saturated, that some is going to bleed. It didn't muddy the colours at all, so I'm not worried about it too much, except it did leave a big blue puddle in the bottom of my bath! This is the only non-ecstatic comment I have to make about this fibre. It was glorious to spin and can't wait to get on with the other braid. I'll let you know how it goes.
