a few handspun sock yarns

I've wanted to show off this skein of handspun since finishing it weeks ago, but had as hard of a time capturing it as I did the batts. Finally today I could, a glimpse at least...


Handspun dk weight, 2-ply. 4 oz, 300 yd
"Raven" batts by enchantedknoll.etsy.com -- black superwash merino, glitz and sari silk

Finally, the black-black of the superwash merino, and the magenta and purple sari silk, and even true hints of the lovely glitz (but yall know how hard glitz is to capture, anyway). I am just as excited about this yarn as I am the batts... I mentioned a while back that I didn't think I could spin a 96% black yarn, but writing that I had already spun part of these batts; I don't consider this a "black" yarn, even though it very much is. It's just that I don't really get excited about solidly dyed fibers, and that's what I meant... it is really hard to express in word and picture that this isn't a black yarn, but a yarn (and fiber) that uses its solid palette to let shine the ethereal and varied colors it has been blended with.

Every inch, no... every quarter inch or more of this yarn had color from the sari silk or glitz in it. I've bought fibers that have said additions were blended throughout but really weren't-- Enchanted Knoll's fiber truly had color throughout the batts' layers, all the way thru. The sari silk was also really well distributed-- there were mainly individual strands of sari silk, and no more than a few strands together at a time (where sari silk tends to come bunched and tangly, this isn't at all in the batt.)



I also really want to say something about the batts themselves as well, the fiber. I am used to fibers in roving or combed top form, where they are slightly compressed and need some love to get drafting nicely just because they've been dyed and rinsed and dried and handled til they get smooshed and a little uptight. A plus about these batts is that Josette uses a commercially dyed sw merino top (a guess! tell me if i'm wrong, k?), and with its already aligned fibers being opened up and sprinkled with the glitz and sari silk on her drumcarder, it is *crazy* open and soft, and drafted like no one's business. I love spinning sock yarns from handdyed, combed top, and have found spinning from batts to be less ideal for me (just the way I spin and how I prefer aligned fibers' look in the final product)... but these batts are the exception to that rule. You can look closely and I bet you wouldn't guess this was a fiber from a batt, as smooth as the final yarn turned out.

I even plied them a little less tightly than I would normally...



...the singles were so limp and soft that I really couldn't bear to ply them as tightly as I normally would. Again, not a great pic of the black merino but you can look closely and see what I mean-- there is no part of this yarn that is a solid black at all and isn't super smooth.

Seriously going to make some gorgeously bling socks, that's for certain.

And even though it's hard to follow that, I have one more handspun sock yarn asking for attention :) You can see it above, getting my camera to behave for the true color of the Enchanted Knoll fibers...


Handspun dk weight, 2-ply. 4 oz, 300 yd
80/20 superwash merino/bamboo, dyed by zero.etsy.com (me!)

You look closely at this one and there's something off, and you're right. I took this...


100% superwash merino, glass tyger by zero.etsy.com

and this...


60/40 superwash merino/bamboo, glass cleopatra by zero.etsy.com

...spun a single of each and plied them together, same idea behind this yarn except these rovings weren't dyed at the same time. In fact I forgot I had one predominantly orange fiber already stashed and dyed another for myself. They found themselves culled out of the fiber shelf at the same time when I was trying to decide what to spin next, and I couldn't resist pairing them up. Made for each other, I'm certain :)

Before I started spinning I expected a very orange skein of yarn, but this is more... tangerine? No, a fifty-fifty bar... the bamboo ply is definitely lighter and carries with it a light, the need to reflect light and shine-- much more than the seacell ply did in the mercutio yarn.

It's a fun looking yarn, but it may be too... shiny for me knit up. We'll see. In the meantime I have 2 oz each left of the colorways... next time, I think I'll randomly alternate lengths of 100% sw merino and the bamboo blend in each single-- it should ply up superfun with places where the bamboo blend and the 100% merino blends match up with one another.

Til then, a tangerine...



:)