Handspun Friday - Multicolored Experiment

I've been reading Marianne's blog for some time now. Not too long ago she opened her etsy store. I wanted to support her, and I think I must have been one of her first customers. At the time she didn't have a lot of colorways I liked (she's updating often), since she seems to like pink a lot, and I don't necessarily, so I got this:



It looked to me, like she used it to mop up spilled dye, no offence, but we all know how deceiving handpainted fiber can be, because it became this, and I totally love it!



fiber: superwash merino, 157g
source: Picperfic's Fluff-n-Stuff
yardage: 151 yds
WPI: 11




Now, why is it called "Multicolored experiment"? Because of the way I plied it. So far I've never made cabled yarn, were you make two 2-ply yarns and cable those together (or any amount of strands as it seems)

So I was thinking, what about if you make two navajo plied yarns and cable those together? Would that work? Why yes, it did! No problem at all.

If you ask yourself, what purpose could this method of making yarn have? What's it good for?

Well, no purpose or advantage really, besides that you get a very sturdy yarn. It looks unusual too, depending on the colorways one uses, it can be quite beautiful. It feels a little like rope. I worked the softness out of this lovely superwash fiber, no doubt.



***

I started writing this blog post yesterday morning. At lunch time I went to get the mail and to my delight I found "The intentional spinner, a holistic approach to making yarn" by Judith MacKenzie MacCuin in my box. I ordered it after I read an enthusiastic review of it on Monica's blog. I skimmed through it, when my eyes fell on the chapter about cabled yarns. How wonderful! Turns out, my idea about cabling multi stranded yarns, is not a new one. It's been used for ages! Decorative cabled yarns actually DO have their uses, for instance as trims, animal and human decoration, or ceremonial yarns. Who'd have known? There's still so much for me to learn (it's not that I thought I know it all, but I just didn't know what I didn't know about spinning). Since this technique makes the yarn really dense, it's much heavier, than ordinary plied yarn.



Holding the finished yarn in my hands, feeling it's texture and drape, I was trying to think of something to do with it. I wanted to use it right away, no putting away in my handspun stash bin for this skein.

I'll show you what I came up with next week, if you can stand the suspense. :o)