I've been in the mood to think about some Fair Isle projects, and with that in mind, I've been challenging myself to spin up a sampler of naturally colored Shetland fibers. I'm going to be covering the topic of spinning to a commercial yarn standard in the Ennea magazine later this year, but that's basically what I was doing here.
I ordered a sampler pack of 4 colorways from my UK fiber supplier, and then supplemented it with one other colorway (as I wanted 5 colors to work with) from a Montana shepherd. I've got one more color to spin up that will be the main color (and therefore is the largest amount I'll spin), but I finished up the first 4 ounces, each of which are 1 ounce.
I've got a dark dark brown, almost black; a chocolate brown; a creamy white; and a pale silver gray. I've managed to be pretty consistent over the spinning of each of these. My yardage for these 2-ply's ranges from 109 yards to 116 yards per 1 ounce, keeping them in traditional "jumper weight" or fingering weight.
You'll likely see these worked up into a project in another few months!
All for now.....
Pretty! I really must do some spinning this weekend.
Posted by: margene | January 14, 2011 at 08:52 AM
Nice! I really need to get back to spinning, but.......I can't stop weaving sock yarn scarves! They are like potato chips, just not fattening.
Posted by: Marcia | January 14, 2011 at 09:18 AM
So pretty, I wish I could reach through the computer screen to feel them.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 14, 2011 at 09:36 AM
I'm looking forward to that article!
Posted by: Kristin | January 14, 2011 at 02:26 PM
That's some beautiful spinning! I'm really looking forward to seeing the project those yarns grow up to be. :)
Posted by: Debbi | January 17, 2011 at 03:50 PM
Can't wait to see what you do with these! I've got the fair isle bug too.. some Shetland on the way, and some North Ronaldsay here. Now I just need some time! ;) Anyway - looking forward to your FO and your article!!
Posted by: Emily | January 18, 2011 at 07:39 AM