I spun this 2-ply Dragon Fly pinks and blues roving on my Cherry Matchless spinning wheel. I have more of this 65% superwash merino wool/35% silk roving in two other colorways and thought I would experiment with this 4 oz batch of roving.
I used the high speed whorl at the 17.5:1 ratio for the singles. I guess I was treadling a little faster than I realized and I ended up with some overspun sections of the singles. I plied with the super high speed whorl at the 22:1 ratio as I like to ply fine yarns as fast as possible. I found some underplied sections of yarn and went back and put it through on my wheel again with the 9:1 ratio, paying special attention to the underplied sections. As a result, the plying twist is very tight but not overly so and I do not plan on going back and taking out any twist.
For my larger Dragonfly silk/wool projects (I have 8 oz of roving in a blue & red colorway and 8 oz in a pink & green colorway), I will spin the singles on a slower whorl, starting with the 15.5:1 ratio. I will likely ply again on the 22:1 super high speed whorl.
This is lovely roving to spin. It turns out that I have about 400 yards at 14 to 18 wpi, which is not enough to make the Orchid Thief shawl I was planning. At the very least, it will make a nice silky scarf.
Beautiful yarn. It looks lovely. I am sure that anything that you make will look great in it. Glad to hear that it is a good spin, as I have a few braids of it from Kate, but have yet to spin any of it.
Posted by: textillian | January 20, 2013 at 07:59 PM
Lovely hand spun and I am sure it will knit up beautifully. I have the same problem of under plying but have not tried plying it again.
Posted by: Ann | February 06, 2013 at 04:47 AM