Friday, August 17, 2007

My very first 3-ply handspun sock yarn!

4 oz self dyed Corriedale roving turned into ...

I've tried to separate the roving into three equal parts to spin, but I think my scale has a screw loose. Every time I put on the same ball of roving, it showed me a different weight. That's why I believe I was left with three bobbins full of varying amounts of singles. In all I had about 1/2 an oz of singles left on two bobbins. I have to be more careful next time. But as it turns out, I still got enough yardage of the 3.5 oz for a pair of socks.


The niddy noddy calculation is 382 yds of 3-ply, 20 WPI sock yarn.


I like the look of 3-ply much better than 2-ply, but each has it's use in knitting. 2-ply is fine for lace knitting, for socks I at least want 3-ply, maybe one day I even get to make a 4-ply, that would be cool.


It amazes me every time how different yarn turns out, from the roving one uses. Most of the time the colors get pretty much muddled up. It would not matter with a solid color, but with multicolor roving there's always a fine line. I knew this roving had the potential of being real ugly. I was prepared to hate it, but to my surprise I like the yarn. Now it will be interesting to see how it looks knitted up. I'm not far enough in Cat's book yet, but I hope to use this yarn for one of her socks.

I've got wonderful help and advise from Spinning Spider Jenny, thanks!

Now, I hope the scale is playing nice when it comes to dividing this ball in two.

I've calmed down, by the way. I've read to a certain point in the book, where you have to get some yarn and the needles out, and start knitting. But I'm almost done with my friends socks, and I love those too!
A nice weekend to you all!
edited later: I don't think I'm going to be able to make socks from Cat's book. My sock yarn is too thin. She's using sock yarn doubled up or worsted weight. I don't have enough to double up, so I think I'll just knit some plain socks with it. One thing, after swatching, is for sure, Corriedale is on the rough side of yarns. I could not wear this around my neck, hope my feet wont be too disappointed. ;o)

34 comments:

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

I really like how it spun up too! Congrats on sock yarn!

Anonymous said...

Your spinning is really looking so pretty these days! That looks like it will great socks. Gotta try a 3-ply soon.

Anonymous said...

Oh what lovely wool you have made, it looks lovely in the skein and then in the ball. Can't wait to see it knitted into socks!!

Tracy said...

Great looking yarn. Personally, I like 3-ply the best. It will make lovely socks, I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing them.

Tracy Purtscher said...

Is this the dye job you hated so much??? Love how it turned out. Dang Woman, you are incredible. How cool is that to make your first Pathway sock in your own handspun....WOW WOW WOW

Michelle said...

Beautiful work! It's amazing to see the difference between roving and final product. The colours are awesome!

sgeddes said...

I lvoe how it spun up. The yarn is very pretty. I guess it might take some experience to figure out how the roving colors will look once they are spun into yarn. The results are always more pleaseing than I would expect.

Kirsten said...

Wow! That is gorgeous 3 ply. You have really become an accomplished spinner!
I too am always amazed to see how the spun yarn changes the appearance of the colors from the original roving.

margene said...

I love the 3 ply!! Nice work.

Anonymous said...

My scale acts like that when it needs a new battery. I *love* the colors you got! It reminds me of Crown Mountain Farms colors.

Teresa said...

Oh my...that looks gorgeous!!!I can see that green as socks too...I can also see my husband stealing those socks and wearing them. I love your pictures..it's so nice to get up in the morning and find loads of yarn pictures! :D It'll be cool to see the socks when they're all done.

Renee said...

Monika, how many stitches per inch are you getting on your yarn. Cat provides master numbers in the back of the book for gauges from 4.5 to 9.5 stitches per inch. Hopefully, you're falling some where in that range.

I got Cat's book 2 weeks ago and made both of the learning socks. I didn't have the correct gauge but they were good enough for a friend to send to her baby nephew. Now I can start on a pair for me. But which one?

Renee

P.S. Your yarns (this one and the others) are very pretty.

hakucho said...

Just looking at the roving, I would never have guessed that you would have been able to create such beautiful yarn. That's too bad your yarn isn't the right weight for the new book...guess you better get to work spinning some special yarn just for the patterns in the book ;)

happy knitting.....and spinning :)

Anonymous said...

I would never have thought that would be the yarn you would get from that roving. I really like it, very pretty.

Anonymous said...

It should be fine on your feet. They can take a lot. Too bad you can't use Cat's patterns but just the yarn itself is going to make even the plainest sock pattern look pretty special.

Poor Sam! I hope he's all better.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful yarn

BeatrixB said...

sieht echt klasse aus! Ich hab ja vom Spinnen null Ahnung, von daher: Chapeau

:) Bea

Anonymous said...

I am so impressed with your spinning! 3 ply? This is amazing to me since I can barely handle spinning one!

I am definitely excited to see how this gorgeous yarn knits up!

Allison said...

That's just amazing how that all turned out. I'm so impressed. I can't wait to see the socks you make.

Strickfimmel said...

Sehr schönes Garn! Ich staune jedesmal, wenn ich vorher die Rohwolle sehe und dann, später, das fertig gesponnene Garn. Bin schon gespannt, wie die fertigen Socken aussehen werden.

shannon said...

drooo-oool! i love the color ever so much!!!

Debi said...

I think this yarn is totally gorgeous! I can't wait to see what it becomes!

That's my big complaint with Cat's designs - she's always using thick yarns or doubled sock yarns! Most people don't have room in their shoes for such thick socks, in fact everyone I've even knit SPORTWEIGHT socks for told me they preferred fingering! I don't know why she designs like that!

Anonymous said...

That is some beautiful yarn!

Thoughts on your scaling issue-I'm a baking and pastry student and all we use is scales for making food. There are some awesome electronic scales out there for decent prices. If you have a specialty kitchen store, they should have it. Williams Sonoma also sells the scales. Mine's accurate to 1 gram (1/28th-ish of an ounce) and can take 5 kilos (apx 10 lbs) on it. Might help if yours is acting up.

Elemmaciltur said...

Wow! I LOOOOOOOVE the yarn!!

Anonymous said...

Wow - was für herrliche Farben!!!

Ich bin schon auf die Strickergebnisse gespannt!

Liebe Grüße
Tanja

Kat said...

OMG! That is gorgeous!!
I wanna be like you when I grow up.

Anonymous said...

It's amazingly beautiful! I am really impressed by your skills. I wish I could spin like you!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful green color. Green is my favorite color. :P

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

Just gorgeous yarn. Really nice spinning. That's good to know about Cat's book as I don't typically like to knit socks with heavier weight yarns. Sure are clever looking patterns, though.

Abigale said...

Beautiful Monika!

I am always delighted at what the yarn turns out to look like, usually not what I expected that's for sure! So funny isn't it?

Oh - I linked to you as a friend on Ravelry - finally got in!

Heike said...

es ist immer wieder verblüffend, was aus so einem Wollwölkchen wird. Die Wolle ist ja wieder ein Traum und dazu noch grüüüün!!

Begeisterte Grüsse von Heike

Supernøtt said...

It is truely gorgeous! :-D

Anonymous said...

Not all the patterns in Cat's new book call for doubled or worsted yarn - I've knitted two different socks (just singles so far) from the book with Kroy sock yarn from Patons and KnitPicks Memories sock yarn.

I think there is a least one typo regarding the Tall Tibetan Corieolis sock - I know I could never get 7 st/in with size 2 needles and doubled STR Medium Weight!

I LOVE THAT BOOK!

eyeleen said...

beautiful yarn! I just love the colors.