lupine

remember lupine? this was my dizzy sheep purchase of targhee top roving. the one that my family started arguing over? i've been having a fascinating time with it. i actually spent some time thinking about how to approach this.... what i wanted to accomplish and how i thought i could get there. this is a new spinning path for me. it was interesting to research the breed, think about the spongy aspects of this fiber and how that was perfectly suited to the project that i had in mind.

i opened the roving into one long piece. i then started dividing it, in half, half again, half again until i had eight strips. i tied a cotton thread on the 'top' end of each so that i would spin them in order. i carefully drafted each long piece then started spinning. i wanted to keep the blocks of color, so i knew i had to navajo ply. i also was looking for a nice round yarn without a lot of halo-ing, again the navajo plying would accomplish this. i used my woolee winder (must get more bobbins) i am in love with my ww.

i found that i needed to put a fair amount of twist into the single to spin it thin. i let the fiber rest on the bobbin overnight, then took off onto my ball winder. this was the challenge, to then ply from the ball. i found that with the dark colors ( and my aging eyes) i needed to do this in the light of day to keep my color bands in tack. i wedged the ball in a basket to keep it steady while i was plying.

the yarn is lovely. soft to touch, still lofty with all the twist and plies!

it is going to be another dark side cowl as a valentine's gift for my honey. wearing the last one i made ensured that the next one was his!

off to cast on!