Saturday, December 31, 2011

Finished Yarns - Jill Draper Makes Stuff Fibers

Over the holidays I spun a ton. It was great to be able to spindle spin while watching my son play with his new toys. He loves that I can pay attention to him and I love to keep my hands busy. I was able to finish up a braid of Jill Draper Makes Stuff fiber that I had purchased from the Yarn Cupboard. This colorway didn't have a name so I'm calling it "Williams' Pick" since he decided on it at the shop as well as which spindle I should spin it on.

Initial 100% merino fiber at 4.55 ounces:


Finished yarn in 3 skeins:

(More details on my stash page)

While these colors aren't necessarily my favorites, I was able to get more practice with spindle spinning and I learned that I really need to figure out Navajo plying on a spindle. Looking at the 3 skeins, the first is by far my favorite because it has the least amount of the barber pole effect. I had originally thought that I only needed to learn how to Navajo ply on my wheel but I'm adding learning this on a spindle to my list as something that would be nice to know. I could always just spin the singles on a spindle and then ply on my wheel but I would rather have my spindles projects be self-sufficient.

Enough about the colors though, the fiber was amazing to spin! I didn't have to split the fiber because it's already a smaller than normal width. I would place it somewhere between a regular roving top size and pencil roving. No pre-drafting or splitting required means that I just divided the fiber into 3 sections, bagged them up and started spinning. Absolutely no VM in the entire braid and super soft fibers. This is definitely one of my favorite fiber bases to spin so far - Jill's color palette is very different from mine so while it limits what I buy from her it also helps expand my normal color choices range.

I would definitely recommend buying this fiber for wheel or spindle spinning. It's very cool that she tries to completely source and produce her fibers within a 100 mile radius of her home. Plus, I met Jill at the last Yarn Cupboard retreat and she's just fabulous. I'm planning to keep an eye on her Etsy shop as well as what's delivered to the Yarn cupboard in the future.

1 comment:

Nicole said...

So pretty. I've been eyeing a braid of her roving at the YC too! I think the skeins are beautiful, Angela!