Purple Haze Tredegar Scarflette - Finished!

I finished this up Saturday morning while watching the rest of the Fleece and Harmony wool cast, and more PLY Guild videos, and immediately blocked it.

It is funny, but when I was working on it, I thought it would be longer, based on the amount of yarn that I had, but actually it ended up only slightly (about 4 inches) longer than the pattern called for.  In the end I did 15 repeats of the pattern, with 7.7 grams of yarn left over, definitely not enough for another repeat - no yarn chicken here.  I’ll use up that remnant on my Zoom loom and add the squares to my growing stash of squares that one day will become something.

I found some suitable buttons in my voluminous button stash and sewed them on this morning.  I’m still figuring out how to wear/style it, but I am very happy with how it came out.  The cables are nice and plump even though this is only a 2-ply yarn.

This is the cozy styling, but I will probably wear it with the top edge turned down.

Pattern:  Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim

Yarn:  Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top, handspun by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm) for the very beginning and ending, US 6 (4.0) for the main part

 

Purple Haze Tredegar Scarflette - Nine Repeats Done!

After finishing my Foxglove Cassie, I decided to finish up one or two other projects that I have on the needles before casting on another Cassie, even though I have the yarn all caked up and it is sitting there looking absolutely gorgeous.  So I grabbed my Tredegar Scarflette and focused on that next.  At this point I am past the halfway point on the amount of yarn that I have, and have enough yarn for 5 more repeats (not counting the partial one that you can see in the photo).  I could potentially get six more repeats, but that might involve some yarn chicken, so I will see when I get there.  So far I am very happy with how this is turning out.

Pattern:  Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim

Yarn:  Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top, handspun by me

Needle:  US 6 (4.5 mm)

Purple Haze Tredegar Scarflette - Four Repeats Done

I have also been making progress on my Tredegar Scarflette, although it isn’t very interesting, just more repeats of the cable pattern, which is a very nice cable pattern, and which the yarn does show off very nicely, despite being a 2-ply.  I mean, what’s not to like?   I love Celtic knots, and I love purple, and the fact that the yarn is my handspun just makes it that much sweeter.  The pattern calls for this to be just long enough to wrap once around the neck, calling for a finished length of 30 inches.  I am already one-third of the way there, and still have lots of yarn left, so I’m going to be making mine longer.  We’ll see how long it ends up being.  The pattern also has you make button holes in the far end before you bind off, and then sew buttons along the long side at the cast on end, so the ends meet at a right angle under you chin.  I’m thinking of putting buttons on the short side of the cast on end so I can turn it into a cowl, or wear it as a scarf.  I may also add buttons along the long side at the cast on end, as the pattern calls for, just to give me more wearing options.  We shall see.

Pattern:  Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim

Yarn:  Rosie’s Multi-colored Merino top, handspun by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)

Purple Haze Tredegar Scarflette - Cast On!

As part of my efforts to rekindle my knitting mojo I also pulled out some of my handspun skeins.  I do really enjoy working with my handspun yarn.  This yarn is what is left of the three spins that I used in the Practically Handspun vest.  This is spin 13, and I have another full skein, besides the partial in the picture, over 250 yards total.

Here is a picture of the original set of skeins.  I used about half in the Practically Handspun vest, and I really loved working with it.  I spent some time yesterday going through my Ravelry library looking for a pattern that I vaguely remembered buying at some point that I thought would be perfect for this yarn, and I finally found it - The Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim.  I’m very happy with how it is knitting up, even though the yarn is a 2-ply my cables are popping quite nicely.

Pattern:  Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim

Yarn:  Handspun Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top in Purple Haze

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm) for the border, US 6 (4.0 mm) for the cable pattern

Practically Handspun - Finished!

I finished the knitting this past Saturday, and did the bind off and blocking Sunday morning.  I still have some of the purple and the orange left over.  The lighter purple that forms the main body is all used up.  The length came out perfect - it just comes down to my knees.  I am delighted with it, my first garment out of handspun yarn.  It wasn’t super consistent yarn either, but it wasn’t bad.  The knitting looks good.

I like the way the color blocking worked.  Please pardon the hall-way selfie, it is too hot to model this outdoors.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Six Skeins Done!

My Practically Handspun keeps growing.  When I’m working on it and dealing with the bulk of the knitting that is completed I start to have second thoughts about my plans, but then I try it on or put it on my dress make dummy for a photo and think that it is going to work out the way I imagine it.  I think it will look great with black leggings, a black turtleneck and boots, and then I can add a dramatic necklace.  I am on the last set of skeins - Purple Haze - and they are a pretty nice set of skeins, which keeps tempting me to go do something else with them.  But I do think I should stay the course on this one.

I am doing increases on the sides every 10 rows to give it an A-line shape.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top from The Woolery

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Three Skeins Done!

Another skein knitted up.  I’m in the mindless part, just increases every 10 rows to give a slight A-line silhouette, which is a modification to the pattern that I made at some point.  I was thinking about making two of these vests out of these sets of my handspun, but have now decided that I’m just going to keep knitting on this one until all the yarn is gone, using it from thickest (mostly) to thinnest.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - 2 Skeins Done!

I finished up Skein 11d, and started working with Skein 12b.  The transition between Skein 11d and Skein 12b worked out perfectly at the end of a row.  If I had been thinking things through a little more I might have started with Skein 12b, and then worked either Skein 11d or Skein 12c.  That would have me working from the thickest yarn to the thinnest.  But that is not what I did, and I think it looks just fine as it is.  At this point I had finished Skein 12b, and have cast off the stitches for the sleeve caps.  I am now working with Skein 12c, then I’ll use Skein 12a.  If I still need more length I’ll use Skein 11c.  I am enjoying the knitting.  There is something extra special about working with your handspun, imperfect though it may be.

This is a nice shot of the yoke that I forgot to post.  I like the garter stitch bands.

I have enough yarn that I can make a second vest using up Skein 11 and all of Skein 13.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich 

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Cast On!

Having used up Skeins 7 and 10 of my handspun yarns I looked to the next set of skeins that I had spun:    Skein 11.  Skein 11 is actually 4 skeins, spun from 250 grams of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top in the colorway Cornucopia bought from The Woolery.

The four skeins are, from left to right:

Skein 11a - 26 grams, 49 yards or 1.88 yd/g

Skein11b - 44 grams, 76 yards or 1.73 yd/g

Skein 11c - 89 grams, 145 yards or 1.62 yd/g

Skein 11d - 89 grams, 130 yards or 1.46 yd/g

As you can see from the numbers, my singles and my finished yarn were getting thicker as I spun this top up and settled into a good single thickness.  I have been trying to decided for some time now what to make out of this yarn, along with the other three of the Rosie’s tops that I had spun up.  I had pretty much settled on a vest based upon the yardage, but I still couldn’t settle on a design that would maximize the usage and minimize the work of figuring out how to use it.  Yesterday I decided that I was just overthinking the whole thing and so I cast on another Practically vest by Kelly Herdrich, my 12th time making this pattern.  What can I say?  It is an easy knit, looks great on, and is a great way to use up those precious skeins.  I pulled out Skein 11d and caked it up yesterday and cast on.  When I use up that skein I will actually switch to Skein 12, which is really 3 skeins, and is also from 250 grams of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top, in colorway Valentine.

For this spin I was focusing on consistency, and having settled into that slightly thicker single on Skein 11d, they all have a similar thickness to that skein.  From left to right:

Skein 12a - 79 grams, 115 yards or 1.46 yd/g

Skein 12b - 79.6 grams, 111 yards or 1.4 yd/g

Skein 12c - 84.3 grams, 121 yards or 1.44 yd/g

If I still need more length I will grab Skein 11c to finish, although I would kind of like to do something else with Skeins 11b and 11c.  Skein 11d I am thinking of weaving up on my Zoom Loom.  I think the colors would like nice with the plum squares that I wove up from Skein 10.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Skein 7 Turtle Loom Hexies - Finished!

I finished up the rest of Skein 7 making hexies on my Turtle Loom.  It was a lot of fun and I got pretty good at it by the end.  I have no idea what these will become, for now I will continue to use up my handspun on my pin looms and collect pieces.

Foxgloves - Finished!

This was a super quick knit - three days.  And I still had yarn left over.  I used about 2/3rd of my skein 10 of my handspun.  As a reminder, this is the yarn that I used.

They fit perfectly, and I got to use my mitten blockers for the first time!  There are even little inserts for the thumbs.

Pattern:  Foxgloves by Clara Parks

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Turtle Loom Hexies

At some point in the past, I’m not sure exactly when, I bought a Turtle Loom from The Woolery.  Why?  Because I must have all of the tools so that I can do all of the things, at least when it comes to fiber.  It sat around for a long time in an old project bag.  The project bag was an early one, an L.L. Bean tote in custom colors, back when they were doing that.  I ordered several and used them for years.  The loom was rediscovered after I retired when I was organizing my studio (using booth infrastructure from my days working for my sister at Bead & Button, and schlepping the infrastructure back and forth in my Element).  It was given a home that made it easily accessible for use, and waited patiently for me to notice it again.

I finally got it out after I had finished the Hydrangea Neckwarmer and still had some yarn left over (Skein 7 of my handspun) and learned how to use it.  It is very simple, and also lots of fun, if a little fiddly, especially towards the end.  I have made two hexies from the leftovers and have more to use up.

I have no idea what these will become, but I’m sure that I will think of something.  In the meantime I will continue to accumulate hexies made from my handspun.

The original skeins.  This skein was made on my original niddy noddy, which makes the shorter skeins, I have since bought an adjustable one that makes the longer (2 yard) skeins.  They are so much easier to work with!  Especially when dyeing.

Spinning Report - Skeins 15 and 16

After finishing up Skein 14 I saw that I didn’t have that much left of my latest bag of Heinz 57 so I decided to spin it up and keep working on my drafting and also the fineness of my singles.  The top was a bit more than I typically spin on a bobbin (I did not weight it, but have calibrated my eye for how full I like my bobbins to get about 40 grams of single per bobbin) so when I reached that point and still had fiber left I did another bobbin.  This gave me four bobbins, two with about 40 grams and two with about 15 grams.  First I plied up the two 40 gram bobbins and ended up with this beautiful skein of fingering weight yarn.  It came in at 82 grams and 347 yards, or 4.21 yards/gram.  Spun on my Kromski at 16:1, plied on my Kiwi at 15:1.

After finishing that skein I took the two bobbins that had the smaller amount, and the leftovers from Skein 14 and weighed them all.  Then I put them on my Lazy Kate (lightest at top, heaviest at bottom) and made my first 3-ply yarn.  Spun on my Kromski at 16:1, plied on my Kiwi at 7.5:1.

It came out perfect.  100 yards, 36.5 grams, or 3.65 grams/yard.  I posted a picture of it in the Sheepspot Guild for the Friday spinning check-in, and was recognized in the spin of the week.  The challenge for May was a new to you ply, and this was mine.  I haven’t dyed it yet and I want to make some more 3-ply.  I’m thinking colorwork socks, but we’ll see what I end up doing with it.  I’m getting a little faster with the plying, still syncing my treadling with my drafting, but settling in to a nice rhythm.

Spinning Report - Skein 14

After finishing up those beautiful dyed tops that I had bought, I went back to the undyed Heinz 57 top and also dropped down to a smaller whorl (I had been working on my 12:1 ratio whorl, but have now switched to my 16:1 whorl).  Still working short forward draft, and trying to spin as thin and consistent a single as I could.  Here is the first bobbin.

It was not a fast spin, and the single on my second bobbin was definitely thinner than the first, as I had a fair bit left over (for me) even though the weight of the singles on each bobbin was comparable, and my final skein was only 68 grams (I usually shoot for about 80 grams).

I also put my smaller whorl on my Kiwi for plying (15:1).  I had a few issues with the plying - I did have a break on my first bobbin, but was able to rejoin it into the plied yarn okay (a better join than I’ve typically been able to do), but I also had some resistance from the wheel - so I decided it needed a drop of oil.  Unfortunately the oil bottle that came with my Kromski was 10 years old, and the plastic was the old plastic that grows brittle with age (and with exposure to oil, I suspect) and the bottle cracked when I squeezed it.  I thought that I had only gotten oil on my hands, but apparently I had also gotten oil on my drive wheel and more importantly on my drive band, but I didn’t realize that at the time.  No, I kept plying, and wondering where the strange noise was coming from, and why it wasn’t treadling as easily as it should.  I managed to finish the plying, and only after the skein was soaking did I take a look at the wheel and figure out all that had happened.  I cleaned everything up and wiped everything down, and treadled it for a few minutes, and it should be fine now.  Fortunately I had bought a new maintenance kit for my Kromski and it came with a new bottle of oil in a plastic bottle that is the better plastic.  I saved the old oil in a sealed container, and the application tip, which is really long.

I dyed the skein in Wool Tincture Dyes, in the color Deep Water.  It is a very uniform dye job, which made me happy, but that is probably because the dye packs and the jar is geared for a 100 gram skein, and mine was only 68, so it had plenty of room.  The yarn came out at a sport weight, although there are stretches that are thinner and some that are thicker.  Even with the challenges, I am happy with the result.

Skein 14:  240 yards, 68.1 grams or 3.5 yards/gram

Spinning Report - Skeins 10-13

I have been spinning regularly, every day, when possible.  I typically spin in the mornings, and usually for 30 minutes to an hour.  I find it very meditative, and it sets my brain (and mood) up nicely for the rest of the day.  Since my last spinning post on March 7, I have spun and plied over 800 grams of yarn.  All of these yarns were spun on my Kromski at a 12:1 ratio and plied on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.

This is my 10th skein.  I went back to the Heinz 57, which I use as a sort of palette cleanser, and a way to reset myself after spinning a new base.  This skein came in at 135 yards and 86.4 g, or 1.56 yd/g and about 10 wraps per inch, so something between a worsted and a DK.  I dyed the skein with Plum from Wool Tincture Dyes.  I still have some variation in the dye take up, mostly where the ties are, even though I do try to tie loosely and I swish the fiber around in my dye jar.  I’m not overly concerned, as I’m not going for total uniformity.  Here is a picture of the skein untwisted.

Overall I am happy with both the singles consistency - there is not as much variation as I’ve had in the past, and the plying consistency.  I do like the set up I have with spinning on the Kromski and plying on the Kiwi.  I’m not sure what I will make with this yarn, but have been thinking about some fingerless mitts.

A little while ago I did an impulse buy of some of Rosie’s Multicolor Merino Tops from The Woolery, so I tackled them next and focused on my singles, trying to be consistent.  For each of the tops I used the same process:  I took the 250 g top out of the bag and shook it out, and then divided it into three equal sections length-wise.  Two of the sections I wrapped up in to a nest and set aside, then I took one section and divided it in half length-wise again, so that I had two pieces of top that were about the same length.  I then stripped the top in half, and then in half again, so I was working with about one quarter of the top at a time to keep the colors from blending too much.  All were spun using short forward draw and scotch tension.  I spun two bobbins from each of the three original sections of top, I wound the bobbins off the wheel and onto another bobbin and let them sit overnight (at a minimum) before plying.  I did not spin up all of the fiber and then mix the bobbins, which I know is recommended to minimize variations in the plied yarn by compensating for variations in the singles, but I wanted to see my inconsistency, not mask it.  I spun a section, and plied it, and then spun the next section and plied it, until I had spun and plied all three sections.

The first top that I grabbed was the Cornucopia colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d.  As I settled in to spinning this top my singles settled in to a slightly thicker diameter.  When I was plying the first two bobbins I had a break, which I didn’t fix, so I ended up with two smaller skeins.

Skein 11a came in at 49 yards and 26.5 g, or 1.84 yd/g

Skein 11b came in at 76 yards and 44.5 g, or 1.69 yd/g

Skein 11c came in at 145 yards and 89.7 g or 1.62 yd/g

Skein 11d came in at 130 yards and 89.8 g or 1.44 yd/g

Next I grabbed the Valentine colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 12a, 12b, and 12c.  The singles on these three skeins are far more consistent.

Skein 12a came in at 115 yards and 79 g, or 1.46 yd/g

Skein 12b came in at 111 yards and 79.6 g, or 1.4 yd/g

Skein 12c came in at 121 yards and 84.3 g, or 1.44 yd/g

The last top is the Purple Haze colorway.

From left to right these are skeins 13a, 13b, and 13c, and on these skeins I went back to a thinner single, even thinner than what I had achieved on the first colorway.  I wanted to see how thin I could comfortably and consistently spin on the 12:1 ratio whorl.

Skein 13a came in at 154 yards and 78.1 g, or 1.97 yd/g

Skein 13b came in at 176 yards and 82.5 g, or 2.13 yd/g

Skein 13c came in at 161 yards and 83.6 g, or 1.93 yd/g

Overall, I am very happy with my spinning and plying on all of these skeins, and with the greater consistency I am achieving.  Although I have no idea what I want to make out of these three sets.

After finishing up these three tops I decided to go down a whorl size, so I set up with my 16:1 whorl and started spinning some more Heinz 57 top.  I haven’t finished my first bobbin yet, but I do have two ply-back samples:

After looking at the first ply-back sample (top) I decided I needed a bit more twist in my singles, which you can see in the bottom ply-back sample.  I’m pretty chuffed with the fineness I am achieving.  These are still short forward draw, although I did do a few inches of long draw just to see how it felt and looked - and it felt and looked pretty good.  Once I have spun short forward draw on all of my Kromski whorls (after the 16:1, I will do the 20:1), I will go back to the biggest whorl and practice long draw on all of them.

Hydrangea Neckwarmer - Finished!

I cast this project on back on March 17, 2025.  This is more of my hand spun, hand dyed yarn.  I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and played it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1 and dyed it with a Wool Tincture Dyes dye kit using the color Malbec.  While this yarn still had some variability in thickness, it did come out more on the thinner side - at 219 yards and 90 grams.

I wanted to make an accessory out of this yarn so I went searching on Ravelry and settled on this pattern by Anne Hanson from the book Brave New Knits, which I happened to have in my knitting library.  I did make some modifications to the pattern.  I went up a needle size, to a US 4 (3.5 mm) needle, and I cast on more stitches.  The smaller size of this cowl has you cast on 84 stitches, for a finished circumference of 16 inches, while the larger size has you cast on 96 stitches, for a finished circumference of 18 inches.  Frankly, both of these sizes seemed too small for my tastes.  I did start out with 96 stitches and really didn’t like how small it seemed, so I ripped and cast on 144 stitches.

I did have some hiccups with the pattern.  I much prefer knitting from charts and typically skip past the written instructions that go along with the chart, which caused some consternation when I reached round 7 and my motif was not lining up correctly.  It turns out that the beginning of the round shifts on rounds 7, 9, and 11.  The written instructions have you slip the first stitch on those rounds, but there is no mention of the reason for slipping that stitch or that the motif shifts.  Luckily the motif is easily memorized, and I shifted my round marker as necessary to work the decreases that spanned it, using the chart only to make sure that I was lining up the motif correctly.

I also had some issues with the knit-on edging.  The pattern calls for a provisional cast on so you can graft the last row to the first row to make a continuous edge.  I didn’t want to do it that way so I just left the first and last motifs separate.  I like the way it allows the edge to settle on the shoulders.  The lace pattern was also fairly straightforward and easy to memorize, although I did have to rip back three times to fix errors that I made and didn’t catch until I was close enough to the end to easily count the remaining stitches and realize that I had screwed up somewhere.  It was a bit frustrating, but I did have that chart memorized by the end!

When I went to block it I was initially going to pin it out as I do with any lace item, but as I was laying it out on the blocking mats I decided I liked the look of a gentle block, especially the way that the edge ruffled, so I just smoothed it out a little and left it.

Pattern:  Hydrangea Neckwarmer by Anne Hanson from Brave New Knits edited by Julie Turjoman

Yarn:  Heinz 57 top, from The Woolery, hand spun and hand dyed by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

More Spinning!

After spinning up the Zen Yarn Garden fiber (spin 6), I went back to the Heinz 57 fiber and focused on spinning up two full bobbins, trying to spin consistent thin single.  I ended up with about 103 grams / 255 yards of yarn, which I dyed using the Malbec.  I still had some paler spots, these were co-located with the ties, even though I tried to tie them loosely.  I might try using this yarn as the weft in some weaving.

Next, I pulled out some fiber that I had recently received from Paradise Fibers as part of their Fiber Club.

The fiber is called Girl with Pearl Earring, and contains 54% merino, 40% Kid Mohair, 6% Stellina.  It was a bit of a tricky spin for me, and I ended up with thicker singles - every time I tried to go thin it would go too thin and break.  I’m not sure what I would make with it.  The fiber club came with two fibers, and I’m still spinning up the second one, but I do have a sample.

The yarn is multicolored, and I’m not trying to do any sort of color management.  It is 60% Extra Fine Merino, 25% Baby Alpaca, 15% Tussah Silk.  This one came out a bit thicker as well, although I have spun another third of the fiber and the single has come out thinner, so maybe I’m getting a bit better.

All of these were plyed on my new wheel, an Ashford Kiwi 3.

I’ve set it up across the room from my Kromski.  It is wonderful to ply on.  On my Kromski my treadling is slow, but on the Kiwi I am fast, and the plying goes quickly.  I also bought a second niddy noddy, as the one I have only makes shorter skeins.  When I tackle long draw I will do that on the Kiwi, as my setup with the Kromski doesn’t really lend itself to those sort of arm movements.

Jezebel Blankie - Finished!

Well, not really a blanket, but a sleeping spot for a kitty that loves to curl up on my knitting and crochet projects.

I started working on this back on February 28, and finished it up on March 3.  It contains my first 5 efforts at spinning.  The Turquoise is my first and second spins, the Eggplant, my third, the Deep Water my fourth, and the Malbec my fifth.

I like the fact that you can see the improvement in my spinning in the piece itself, and yet all of it was usable.

Pattern:  Easy 4 Colour Log Cabin Blanket by Haley Waxberg

Yarn:  Heinz 57 fiber from The Woolery, handspun

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

More Spinning

I’ve also been trying to spin regularly and finished up my first pound of Heinz 57 top from The Woolery, and cracked open the second pound bag of Heinz 57 that I had bought.  These two skeins were spun on a faster whorl (12:1 as opposed to 8:1), which was a bit exciting at times.  They are all tied up and ready for a dye bath.  I purchased a dyeing kit from Wool Tincture, which claims that if you can brew a cup of tea you can dye yarn.  I definitely have mastered tea brewing, so we shall see how that goes.

The kit comes with a dyeing jar (no sacrificing any of your kitchen ware) and you can get pre-measured dye kits in complementary colors, all you have to do is add the hot water and let the magic happen.  No fancy variegated stuff - just solid colors - but that is fine with me.  I just don’t feel like working with white wool.

I also spun up one of the dyed rovings that I bought ages ago when I first thought I would want to go down the spinning rabbit hole.  This was a roving from Zen Yarn Garden, who have recently closed their shop (they retired), although their dyer has opened up one of her own, so you can still get their beautiful colors.  I have a lot of their yarn in my stash.  This roving had been sitting around in its plastic wrap for years in my studio, never finding a home, so I just grabbed it, opened up the package, undid the braid and let it breathe for a few days before I started spinning.  The fiber is superwash merino, and it was dreamy to spin, so silky and soft.  I went back to the slower whorl (8:1) for this one, just because I felt like I had more control.  My spinning is still not consistent, but the yarn came out beautiful and soft.  It will likely become a scarf.

For plying both of these sets of singles I broke out the jumbo flyer that I had bought for my Kromski spinning wheel.  Getting it switched over was a bit of a challenge, and getting it set up to actually ply was also a bit of challenge and I ended up snapping my string drive band.  Fortunately I had a spare poly drive band so I replaced the band and got it all working.  It definitely took more effort to treadle (I have a single treadle), especially as the bobbin filled (inertia is real).  Spinning with my regular flyer is really easy and almost effortless, so I wasn’t super happy with the experience of plying on the jumbo.  I’m seriously thinking about getting a second wheel just for plying and am looking at the Ashford Kiwi 3, which comes with larger capacity bobbins, and is compact, and folds up.