Monday, July 23, 2012

Aw, Turn Blue

At some point during the Tour de Fleece, DH observed I was spinning like defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans,TdF Paris button that is, losing ground. Grumpy rejoinders aside, I can't deny that although I managed to spin and ply all of my roving (and pile it in front of the TV) in time for the grand arrival in Paris, I didn't have time to set the twist, so no podium finish for me – or for Cadel Evans, who finished seventh overall behind new champion Bradley Wiggins. Ah well, there's no shame in finishing with the peloton.

Peloton finish

My progress this TdF was admittedly uneven. I started well enough with a 4-oz (113 g) braid of Zarzuela's Fibers BFL, colorway Vishuddha Blue. But at some point I became bored watching the Tour de France, turning to Wimbledon when that was on, and eventually resorting to Harry Potter. It was a bit sad: Voldemort vanquished, but I was still spinning. Looking on the bright side, I did spin every day.

Fiber --->> Tour de France --->> Wimbledon --->> Harry Potter

To set twist, I like to use the hot water method: thoroughly soak yarn in water with a glug of wool wash, gently heat to between 160-180° F (71-82° C), let cool in the pot, squeeze out water, and hang unweighted to dry.

Hot water

One advantage of the method is it sets dye as well as twist, or at least bleeds off excess.

Excess dye

I *thought* I had ordered Superwash fiber, as this yarn is destined to be socks. However, the leftover spinning waste/fluff f-f-felted readily, so apparently not.

F-f-felted ball

Hm. Should I proceed with Plan A or abandon? Something to ponder while the yarn dries.... To be continued.

No comments: