Experimenting

One of the fun things about finding smaller amounts of fiber inexpensively is feeling much more free about experimenting with them. There's something about having 8 ounces or more of a fiber and thinking you need to finish up with enough to actually use for something. Then having 4 ounces makes me think, okay, this isn't so much what can I do to stretch it or what can I do that might be interesting.

One of the fibers I got from the Esther's Place booth at the Bishop Hill Spin-in was a ball of mohair roving dyed oceany sort of colors, turqoises, lime green, blue, etc. Very pretty but I'd never seen a 100% mohair yarn. Commercial mohair yarn is always mixed with wool and, for some reason, some sort of nylon or acrylic (never quite figured that out about the nylon). So I spun about 2 ounces of the mohair and started thinking about how I wanted the finished yarn to come out. I know, I know, you're supposed to think about that BEFORE you start to spin. Just you be quiet.

I only did half the roving so if I decided to make a 2 ply mohair yarn, I would have a fairly even go at the second bobbin. But as I was spinning, my eyes wandered to the table where I had started a turqoise merino sample I've had for ages. Came from Outback Fibers in Texas in a sampler pack I got one time. Had an ounce about a dozen different colors and wonderful to spin. So I started wondering about using the merino as a pairing to the mohair. The turquoise is not the same as the main color of the mohair but because the color is moving around so much, I thought it might be a nice counterpoint. So I started on a bobbin of merino.

Let me tell you, if you've never spun well-prepared merino your life is empty. Never mind all your friends and your activities and achievements. Empty. All empty, my friend.

As I kept spinning, my ounce of merino kept going and going and going. Could this have been 2 ounces? Maybe so but it's spinning so finely with my Scotch tension working and my Minstrel humming along. Now I'm not sure what to do? Should I just finish this and make a 2-ply lace weight (that's what it would be) or bit the bullet and ply it with the mohair? Keep in mind that I still have 2 ounces of the mohair left to spin and do something with.

Maybe I'll try a more woolen spun with the second batch. Spin from the fold? It's a long stapled bunch of stuff.