Today I am pleased to say that I have finished spinning my Bowmont fleece. The pictures are small, but for some reason I couldn't get my scanner to cooperate and give me a better close up.
I managed two different yarns from my sample: a pure Bowmont yarn and a Bowmont/Angora blend.
This first skein is the straight Bowmont. My singles measured 66 WPI and the 2-ply is 32 WPI. This is amazing for me, and as I spun it I was reminded why I don't usually spin a fine yarn; it takes a long time!My goal was to get as much yardage as I could, and I ended up with approximately 258 yards. The yarn is quite elastic; I can stretch a 5 inch strand out to 7 inches.
Next I turned my attention to the broken tips I had combed out. These were mixed up with some neps, which I didn't bother to pick out. I figured I would full the yarn and that hopefully this would keep pilling to a minimum. I handcarded the 5 grams of "waste" Bowmont with angora rabbit, using my cotton handcarders.
My rolags looked like punis, don't they? But my fiber length for this skein was about 1 inch. These were spun long draw.
The blend is about 2/3 Bowmont to 1/3 Angora and it has a lovely hand. I abused the yarn to full it, just like I showed you in this post. The finished yarn is slightly bumpy and measures 26 WPI. I have 43+ yards.I haven't had time yet to knit swatches of either yarn. I'm not even sure what size needles to use for yarn this fine! Not sure I will get this done over the long holiday weekend anyway. Not sure I'll get anything done. But I hope everybody has a lovely weekend and a safe one.
© 24 May 2007 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com
Related Posts:
Bowmont Fleece 1 - The Breed
Bowmont Fleece 2 - Fiber Assessment
Bowmont Fleece 3 - Spinning
Bowmont Fleece 4 - A Problem
Bowmont Fleece 5 - A Comparison
7 comments:
Wow and wow! Looks like a lace wanna-be to me. I am impressed by the elasticity. My Shetlands just have none but I love them for their lustrous yarn. Does the Bowmont have much luster? Did you tell us how you learned about the Bowmont breed in the first place? I have a short attention span and even shorter memory - sorry.
Well, it's hard to keep a long memory in the blogosphere *lol* Too many interesting things going on around here. The whole story started with my Bowmont 1 post. I will have to link the series together. The short version is that I learned about it through the Online Guild. I can't compare the Bowmont yarn to Shetland yet, as I haven't worked with raw Shetland fleece before. However, that's next on my list thanks to a generous gift from Cathy! The Bowmont is not exceptionally lusterous, but moreso than the down breeds. I'd say that the breed is well worth preserving.
Simply beautiful, Leigh! I am so happy to see another person who spins fine yarns, although I'm trying to do some larger diameter yarns to have handy for hats, socks, and such.
I am trying to teach myself to knit and didn't know what size needles to use. I took a skein with me to the local knting store and the sales person almost fainted saying, "You actually MADE this yarn? It's so fine. I'm not sure we have needles small enough for that." I had to smile and keep myself from going off on a discussion of laces, weavings, etc. :)
I can't wait to see what you do with this wonderful yarn you've desinged!
Just an update.....I clicked on Create a Blog. We're talking tiny baby steps, one at a time........
I see you use a scanner for your yarns. I have one Amy gave me a few years ago, but there is so little room on my computer desk that it is put away.......result, of course, is that I never use it. Am going to have to rethink that.......
Gosh Leigh - how do you do it all??? The yarns are beautiful and your Bowmont posts have been most interesting!
Lovely work! I have really enjoyed spinning Bowmont too - being nice and long, and so fine, it's been really pleasant to spin very finely. I'm glad you were able to make use of your waste fiber, too - I did something similar with the fibers left behind after flicking the locks for fine spinning, and spun them into a thicker yarn that's really bouncy and nice. Two completely different yarns from one fiber, and both really lovely!
Joy, thank you! I tried to return the blog visit, but your comment form won't load (???)
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