Spin Cycle

Day 301: With interest in traditional home arts on the uptick over the last few decades, the availability of fibers has increased as well. No longer does the spinner have to raise their own sheep or find a rancher willing to sell a fleece. Now there are many sources for both natural and dyed materials: clean, carded and packaged as roving. I'll admit I've gotten a little spoiled, and definitely prefer to purchase wool in that form. After having a major shoulder repair some years ago, the process of carding wool puts too much strain on atrophied muscle and tight tendons, and I simply can't stay at the task long enough to prepare sufficient wool for an hour's spinning. With roving, I can tug off several sections and start spinning immediately. The fibers will have been straightened for me, and the material will be free of debris and neps, those nasty little tangled knots of wool which bunch up and leave lumps in the finished yarn.

Since I prefer to knit with lighter weight yarns, I usually spin two fine strands and then ply them together for strength. In this photo, the spindle is filled with single-ply Gotland (sheep) wool and the hank is a finished skein of double-ply. It is the same weight as the tan llama wool on the right, shown here in the process of being knit into a scarf. I am using #5 needles and a simple waffle pattern with a garter stitch hem, alternating knit and purl every five stitches and five rows.