During my vacation I started to sample the fibres for the Fiddlehead mittens. It was lovely to spin the BFL/silk. It ran smoothly and rather OK when it comes to consistency. I made a sample card with unwashed singles and plied yarn to have as a reference when spinning the yarn for the project. The first attempt was terribly wrong. I tried to make an under-spun single and over-spun ply. But it was too thick and very airy. Sample two on the other hand had the correct wpi (more or less). But when swatching it just didn’t add up to the correct gauge. Changing needles didn’t help. So I looked at the pattern and realised the gauge was for stranded knitting….. Some spinning later and I had two sample yarns; the BFL/silk and coloured merino.
This time the swatch had the correct gauge. Both in row and stitch count. As can be seen in the picture I had some difficulties spinning the merino consistently. Even though I feel I spun them the same way the end result differs. I haven’t spun so many different fibres, but it is really interesting to feel and see the difference between them.
There are about 25 m merino and 32 m of BFL/silk drying in the bathroom. I can’t wait to start to cast on for the mittens, even though it is still summer.
Cablegal's crafting adventures 