First Time I Plyed Two Spun Singles Together

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This is the first yarn where I have spun two singles and plied them together. The others yarns I had done were so irregular and thick in spots that I plied them with thread as not to add more bulk to them.

It is 4 oz. of Finn that the woman who sold me the Babe wheel gave me. It spun really nicely. I think it had a nice long staple which meant I could draft it out pretty well.

While I am still not super consistent about the thickness, I am improving. There are some thicker & thinner bits in the yarn. But overall, it is much better in consistency. I am still learning a lot but it is getting better the more I am spinning.

I really do love the wheel. I was having some issues with it, but I think that was me getting used to the wheel. Most of them have been resolved by my being attentive to how I sit, where I put my feet on the treadles & my darling hubby tightening up some screws on the wheel. So I think things are good!

I also did my first batch of dyeing with Kool-Aid. It was pretty easy and the color is okay. I think I would have liked more richness to the color. But it did work well. I really liked that I could do it in the microwave because it was all edible products. So I didn't have to stress about it being toxic.

The purple is created with grape Kool-Aid. It is sorta dusty purple. The red is tropical punch. I had wanted black cherry as it is darker. But the store didn't have any. The colors are pretty decent. I also added some red & blue food coloring to some of the sections. Though honestly, you can't see a difference between the sections with the food coloring and the ones without. *shrugs*

I had planned to just lay out the yarn in a large container and do it that way. But when I poured the dye onto the yarn, I found that there was no way with that method that the colors would remain in place. So I took the cups I mixed the different dyes in and just kept the yarn in each of the cups.

I used the 2 minutes in the microwave, two minutes rest. I would spoon the color over the parts that were sticking up over the edges of the cups. It worked pretty well.

Overall I am happy with the results. I might decide to overdye the color. But it is just as likely I will leave it as it is.

I definitely think I should invest in some acid dyes. What I liked about this dyeing process is that you are supposed to heat it until the water becomes clear. So that is a lot less rinsing. And after handpainting with the fiber reactive dyes and the rinsing that takes all day, not spending hours rinsing is very appealing. *chuckle* Also, for creating painted rovings, the acid dyes are a better way to go. I will have to check into them.

The yarn is only around 55 yards though. Ah well. Maybe I will create a thin decorative scarf. I am not sure. Either way I am definitely having fun with spinning. Now that I have gotten the hang of it, it is getting really calming to do it.