Spin to weave project

At last - Spinning to Weave!

        My last post has urged me to begin a long awaited project, making something from my handspun yarn.
        In my 'stash' I had several 100g plaits of a special blend of fibres, 50/50 Silk and wool well blended (5x), ordered from World of Wool over a year ago and hand dyed by myself to sell.
   I had no two plaits alike, but these three had colours in common and it seemed to me that they could be combined for such a project.
   Could I spin it evenly enough, was it to be a singles or plied yarn? How was I going to combine the three colourways?  Decisions, decisions!

    I took the plunge. Spinning on 4 bobbins would give me the option of plying at a later date, should I change my mind on the weight of yarn needed - I had decided to spin a fairly fine worsted type singles and was unsure if I could keep to a consistent diameter.

   First, I gave the fibre time to relax. I undid each plait, held it along its length with hands 12 - 16 inches apart and 'snapped' the length to open it out across its length. Some spinners suggest 'whacking' the tops on a hard/firm surface along its length to do the same thing.
 Each plait was divided into four lengthwise, so giving me 4 x 75g. produced from 25g of each of the original plaits. Fine, that would fit onto my bobbins. Should I decide to ply then this could be done on a larger bobbin.
   I proceeded to divide each 25g across its width into 6 to ensure shorter runs of each shade and to aid drafting. I do believe in pre drafting tops, especially if it has been dyed and you want to spin a consistently fine yarn. You can keep the spinning rhythm going more easily and it also provided you with a much more relaxed experience. Any debris or 'snaggles' of fibre can more easily be picked out at this point!

 

  I soaked and lightly washed all of the skeins together and, after rinsing and wringing out as much water as possible, hung them to dry on a broom handle with a second weighted broom handle through the bottom of all of them to take out some of the kinks. I moved each one regularly to help with drying........

  I have ended up with 4 skeins of singles yarn, each 70-75g and a total of 1800 yards which wraps at 30 ends per inch.

 Sorry, this picture was taken on a sunny day!