Fun Yarn

I have been having so much fun playing with this wool! It started out as undyed Fine African Top from Louet. I hand painted it with fuchsia, yellow, turquoise, and blue, repeating the sequence around the loosely skeined top. I let the colors blend where they met. After the top was rinsed and dried, I divided it into five color groups:fuchsia, blue, turquoise, green, and yellow/orange.

Next, I took each fluffy pile and spun it seperately. Each color has bits of its neighbors, so the yarn has a lot of complexity. It is so much fun to watch the blending as I spin, and to examine the finished yarn once I am done. Anyway, I wound each color off the bobbin into a center pull ball as I finished it. The picture of the five yarn balls is the singles yarn.

When I had all five balls of singles ready, I went back to my wheel (which is a double drive Asford Traveller that I assembled from a kit) and plied each ball back on itself using the end from the outside and the one from the middle.

I just love this yarn. It has been so much fun to make. It makes me think of tropical colors (because of the fuchsia and turquoise?). I found myself thinking of the green as "lemon-lime" and the fuchsia as "sunset". The orange/yellow one I wasn't sure I was going to like. The bits of green mixed in with the orange and yellow had me worried, but as I plied it, I fell in love with it. It really reminds me of autumn leaves. Often we will find maple leaves colored with incredibly rich fall hues and flecks of green like this.

I posted these yarns on Etsy. I wasn't sure I wanted to, but I find that I don't want to knit it anyway! I just want to look at it (and feel it, it is rather soft). I love to knit, and I love to knit handspun, but I can't keep up with it all. I am really enjoying the freedom to experiment with color that having my own little etsy business has allowed me.