K-K-K-KOMBO SPIN
I got kind of addicted with welfordpurls’ spinning podcast on YouTube. She talked about combo spinning in one of the early episodes, and when I picked up these two braids at a knitting retreat in April, I immediately knew I wanted to do a combo spin. One of the braids was a Southern Cross Fibre club color, the other an unlabeled mystery fiber I picked up for free.
Initially, I wanted to do a 2-ply – spin each braid onto separate bobbins and ply them together – but the mystery braid had already been dipped into so I would’ve ended up with more singles on one bobbin.
Second plan, split the braids lengthwise in thin strips, spin alternating from each pile and then navajo-ply. The drawback was that the colors may not have blended as much as I wanted. I started spinning this way, spinning quite fine and with a lot of twist to account for the chain plying in the end. And then I had a brainwave…
Plan #3: Spin one bobbin in A, B, A, B… order and the other B, A, B, A… and then 2-ply. This way there’s more color blending which is what I initially wanted. The “bad” (not really) thing is now I ended up with a thinner and higher-twist yarn than I’d aimed for.
I was planning to knit a shawl with this but now that I know the final yardage, I’m faced with a dilemma. It’s definitely plenty for a large shawl but it might also be enough for a small-ish cardigan. Would I wear a cardigan in these colors? There may be some swatching ahead.
Combo Spin
On Ravelry: Dark Heart of Winter
Fiber: 110 g of Southern Cross Fiber Kent Romney Lambswool in Heart of Winter + 74 g of mystery wool
Yardage: 1078 m or 1179 yd
Skein weight: 180 g or 6.3 oz
Grist: 599 m/100 g or 2971 ypp
Plies: 2
Yarn weight: Light fingering
And now I’m eyeing some more potential combo spin pairings in my stash!
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