befogged

So, the wheel and I have been getting to know one another since my last update, erm, last year! So far I’ve thrown some corriedale (not my favourite fibre so far - it’s ok, and it’s easy to draft, but it’s not nearly as *nice* as other sorts) and merino at it and produced decent results. There’s some alpaca on there at the moment that is looking like it will turn out to be laceweight or not much heavier by the time I’ve plied it (just started the second bobbin… getting there, but it takes a while at such a fine weight!), but so far what I’m most happy with is this:

It’s about 300m of roughly sock weight 2ply Wensleydale from Babylonglegs in the ‘Blue Banana’ colourway. I tried to split the fibre in such a way that I would get a degree of colour-matching between the two plies. It seems to have worked to some degree, although not 100% perfectly, which means I should have some nice gradations of colour once it’s knitted up. I really enjoyed spinning the Wensleydale - it’s got a lovely sheen to it, rather than being a floofy fibre, so it’s a totally different look and feel from BFL. We like variety!

And just to prove that point about the colour gradations:

That’s the beginnings of a Tudor Grace  - it’s probably a more accurate shot of the true colours, too.

And just before I started that, I finished this:

It’s a Logan River Wrap in New Lanark Donegal Silk Tweed Aran. Great pattern for a simple but warm and effective wrap, and the yarn is a real bargain - produced on a small scale in Scotland, excellent service and a good price for natural fibres. It feels rather tweedy at first, but it softened a lot with knitting and still more so with blocking - it’s got a lovely softness and drape now.