The first sweater spin is done – I opted to 4 ply my ’standard’ long draw single, and have now have a nice 75 yard skein of a 4-5 wpi bulky yarn. It’s a nice soft bouncy yarn, with a slightly barberpole look because of color variations in the singles. Even woollen spun, the border leicester wool has a bit of sheen to it.
Once I had the yarn, I knit a couple of swatches – a gauge swatch on US 9 and 8 needles, and a cable swatch. I’m getting a consistent gauge on both needle sizes – 3.25 sts to the inch, and the fabric looks and feels the same. It is soft and fairly thick, but not stiff. The cable swatch is pretty poor looking – woollen yarns don’t show stitch or cable definition well, and this one is no exception. Further, I just don’t care for the look of the cables in such a large yarn.
In the end, this is a nice yarn, but I’m not sure it’s the sweater yarn I want – it’s a very bulky yarn, and I’m losing my cables with it. For the next spin I’ll try a three ply, which should give me something closer to what I want weight wise. I might just have to forgo cables for my sweater, since I know I want a woollen spun yarn for warmth. We’ll have to see how 3 ply swatches work up, and I need to make sure my cable swatch is longer next time – I’m not sure the cables were able to come out fully on the shorter swatch. If the 3ply is still too bulky, then I need to look at spinning finer singles.
It’s beautiful though – bulky, yes but looks as though you could melt right into it.
Comment by redfear — December 14, 2008 @ 5:09 pm |
I like the cables – they’re pretty because they catch the light differently.
Comment by melanie — December 14, 2008 @ 9:51 pm |
What I have found with cables is that you need to do at least three cable patterns before they even begin to look right. I agree, extra bulky yarn is not the best for cables – but it does look yummy and, oh, so cozy.
Comment by laura — December 14, 2008 @ 11:59 pm |
Yeah. I’m leaning towards the cabled cardi in my big knitting book. I definitely need to do a better cable swatch in the next yarn, and I’m thinking I may do a second one in the 4 ply.
I do think they’d catch the light well – especially with the sheen in this yarn. I just don’t know about the bulky yarn yet. Fortunately, I’ve got plenty of fleece so I can afford a bit of experimentation. And no worries about dye lots!
Comment by Anna — December 15, 2008 @ 3:01 pm |