Favour spinning

Lightweight hand spun 2 ply wool yarn for a friend’s Arts & Sciences experiment.

A while ago a friend posted in a Facebook group – asking if there were any volunteers for her Arts & Sciences project. She was looking for volunteer spinners to take a small amount of wool, and create yarn. Her plan is to look at how different types of spinning (woolen vs worsted, plied vs unplied) would impact dye take-up.

I volunteered, and a few weeks later a small package arrived in the mail (she lives in another city, plus we’re still physically distancing in Calgary as much as we can) and later that day I pulled out my favourite drop spindle (still loaded up with silk from the last spinning TUA class I took!) and spun  up the wool.

Lightweight hand spun single ply wool yarn on my favourite drop spindle – for a friend’s Arts & Sciences experiment.

After for so long working with the borrowed Mason spinning wheel, using the drop spindle again was a bit frustrating… both because of the slower pace, but also because my hands have really been bothering me lately, and I kept dropping the spindle. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy + super fine yarn =/= Fun stuff.

Lightweight hand spun 2 ply wool yarn for a friend’s Arts & Sciences experiment.

The next day I plied the very fine single strand into a double ply – which is probably around fingering / very light weight, but far more durable than the single ply. I washed and set the yarn, and the next day when it was dry I popped it back into the return envelope she provided and the next day I popped it in the mail.  Can’t wait to see the results of her experiments!

Lightweight hand spun two ply wool yarn for a friend’s Arts & Sciences experiment.