Finishing Silk Merino Blend -- Picking the Collective Brain

The internet has really made things easier, especially in terms of collecting general knowledge into a "library" of sorts. There are good & bad sides to this -- there's the trashy novel sections where people mistake fiction for fact, and the huge trivia section where you can drown in a sea of interesting, but non practical knowledge. Then there's the reference section, where you can find EXACTLY the piece of information you need.

Ravelry is a smaller version of that collective knowledge, but highly specialized, and I have made multiple use of it finding nuggets of knowledge.

Earlier this week, I navajo plied half of the the silk merino Bonfire that I had spun previously.

into this:

And it came out gorgeous! Love. Love. Love. I'll have about 230 yards of this wonderful 3-ply sport weight yarn (once I finish the other 2 ounces).

However, I wasn't quite sure how to finish this yarn. Its a 50-50 merino silk blend; and I wasn't sure how the silk would stand up to my normal aggressive finishing (which involves alternatively dunking in hot & cold water, thwacking, whacking, snapping, and fulling). However, there is a grand collection of knowledge on Ravelry that is an amazing resource and should have the answer I need.

A quick perusal on Ravelry found a post by Abby Franquemont on this very problem! It involves only a much less aggressive finishing technique (still involving hot & cold water and simple snapping)

(Paraphrase)
A) Hot water with wool wash
B) Soak skein for 20 minutes until it's saturated (or longer if needed)
C) Dunk in cool water as a rinse
D) Get out excess water
E) Snap all around the skein
F) Dry unweighted.

NOW, if Ravelry would only provide me with the definitive answer of exactly *what* I should knit with it to show off the colors to the best advantage? Unfortunately, it can only offer up potential suggestions and letting me make the final decision. That's the one thing that the collective knowledge can't do for me. :-)

The Dye Pot

This past weekend, I got out the dye pot and worked on about 8 oz white merino I had laying about. The first batch was a green/blue/brown combination. It didn't quite work out how I wanted, but it still looks quite nice.

4 oz of merino

I dyed the other half a motley of purple & blues. Although I think I might have felted parts of it slightly. *sigh*. I think I might ply the two together, and call it "Lilac Bush".

Tour de Fleece: Picked Project

I didn't get much spinning done this past weekend, because we went out of town. However, I did spend extra time during the week spinning, as well as bringing my spindles with me to keep on spinning my wheels.

When I got back, I spent some time Navajo plying the resulting singles so I could preserve the long 8 color repeats.

2oz. 182 yards, heavy fingering weight, Navajo plied

While I was plying, DH looked over and asked me why I was running my yarn back through the wheel. He wanted to know if I was adding or removing twist. I told him I was plying. He said, "But there's only one bobbin."

I had to explain to him how to Navajo plied -- at least he's learning. :-)

The Difference of a Few Microns

A bit ago, a friend was helping me to get better at spinning. I had some really good soft and wonderful merino, which I had spun a little bit previously without issue, but I was having trouble spinning "thinner" in order to spin for the project I want. She gave me some faboo superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms to try.

And, the difference was amazing. I could really tell the difference between the different fibers. The CM Merino was so much softer than the other merino and I was able to draft much easier. Consequently, I was able to spin thinner. She told me that it was going to be easier to spin thinner on very good fiber.

It's not to say that the other merino was bad. It's good merino, but the Crown Mountain was *excellent* merino. Much like the difference between decent wine and EXCELLENT wine.

After finishing about 2 oz of the CM merino, I went back to spin some of the other merino fiber, and it didn't draft as smoothly as the Crown Mountain version, nor was it as soft. But, I was now able to draft it a lot thinner than previously.

And she was absolutely right, it DOES help to learn how to spin *thinner* on very very good fiber. It's made working with the decent merino easier than before.

And, I think I shall have to buy more of the Crown Mountain merino.

Spinner's Study: Alpaca & Merino

Alpaca

So, for Ravelympics, I was continuing my spinning study, on alpaca. Needless to say, I'm *STILL* working on finishing that 2 oz of alpaca. This is being spun on a Greensleeves 1.6 oz spindle. I'm not sure if what I have is suri or huacaya, but I had gotten it as part of my original box from Spunky Eclectic. It's a natural tan color.



Notes:
- the alpaca is oh-so-buttery soft. It's very well prepared roving.
- the staple length is very *long* = 5-8"
- there's very little crimp in a given lock, so it's not very elastic.

I'm currently spinning it at about a heavy fingering or sport weight, as it seems to lend itself better to that weight. And I'm really really enjoying spinning this fiber.

However, I definitely would like to ply this with merino to give it a little bit of elasticity. I have some pure alpaca yarns, and while I love the drape and the feel, I think it would be better (for me) to mix this in with wool.

Merino
From my Spinner Study box, I have 2 oz of white merino, which is being spun on a Deborah Doyle (Asciano) spindle (1.25 oz).



Can I just say that I am *really* liking merino?

Notes:
- lots and lots of crimp, which means that it's.....
- very very elastic. There is definite "sproing" in the spun yarn. I can easily see this being over spun.
- I am currently spinning this at a fingering weight because I want to ply it with the above alpaca, but I can definitely see spinning this a lot thinner (laceweight) just because of the fiber properties.

Some personal notes:
While I like merino, I'm not sure if this will become my "Go-To" fiber (or Desert Island fiber). I find that I'm preferring a little bit of a longer staple length for spinning purposes. This isn't to say that I won't spin merino, but I can easily see this being blended with other fiber types (like alpaca) just to mix things around a little bit.