Some Finished Yarn

It's been ages around here since I had some finished handspun, but today that all changes. This is 1050 yards of two ply Polwarth spun to about fingering weight. The spinning isn't terribly even (I really got out of practice with spinning during the move), but it's done. I finished plying and then fulled* the skeins in the washing machine to finish them. I never really had a plan with this yarn, I just wanted to spin some of it the roving up. (I purchased a whole fleece, so there's more of this fiber in the stash). I'll probably use it for lace since it's just a two ply and two plies do lace better than they do anything else.

I've still got to ply up the lavender merino and silk singles that I spun earlier this Spring, then I'm going to go through my spinning notes, go through my spinning books, and start practicing everything that I used to know until I'm spinning consistently again and getting the yarns I want for specific projects again. Knowing that I used to spin much better and more even makes me frustrated when I look at this yarn. I've got several batches of fiber in my stash for sweaters, but I'm not about to undertake such a large spinning project until I feel confident in the consistency of my spinning.

*Fulling is a way to finish yarn. Fine wools like Polwarth and Merino (there are others but I'm not going to try to remember them in my uncaffeinated state) actually expand and push against each other when they're agitated in warm water. Don't do this with all wools because the same type of activity these two skeins did in the washing machine would have made felt of Blue Faced Leicester or Romney. Judith Mackenzie Mc Cuin has written an article in Spin Off on fulling and I'm guessing her spinning books also cover this.