Product spinning- unenergised singles

I realised half way though spinning the first spindle-ful of this lovely green fluff that I want to knit it as singles rather than plied yarn (thinner is a big thing for what I have planned for this). The problem? Handspun singles. They tend to be ‘energised’, and have a strong lean in one direction when knitted (there’s an *excellent* shawl I really want to knit which uses this technique, slantwise). Anyway, I definitely didn’t want *my* knitting to do that. the solution (after a quick google search), seemed to be two-fold- spin looser (bit of a promlem since I already had half a spindleful…), and be harsher on the yarn when finishing. Well, the second one is easy enough! I also spun a spindle-ful and made a two-ply of it (being very careful to not over/under ply it). Okay, diversion: you can check for under/overply as you’re plying by letting a length of the ply hang loose and seeing whether it twists on itself. One way represents underplying, the other overplying. A bit of experience will let you know which is which (by the end of my spindleful I had it down, but I’ve forgotten and of course it depends on whether you spun S or Z singles…). Diversion over.

So, I now had a small skein of singles, and another of plied (plied on top in the above pic). Now to test-knit some swatches.

The singles knitted up just fine (I was slightly concerned as the skein twists on itself a bit, but clearly not enough to affect the fabric). This swatch was knitted on 2.5mm needles, and I think I like it, but not the pattern. I have my heart set on a double diamond pattern, which I think I’ll have to unvent… There is excellent stitch definition, and minimal haloing. None of the fibres came off on me while I was knitting, and it doesn’t look like any will later on, even the metallic bits, which look like they’d be the most likely to come off at an inopportune moment. There’s also far less rolling than I would expect for this sample (I did I garter stitch border up the sides, and although there is some movement on the left edge near the top, that’s about it. Obviously this will change with a different stitch pattern…). This stitch pattern, for anyone interested/my future notes: a bit of the Advent calender scarf I did many years ago. I just scrolled through he options until I came across something with some simple lace, as that’s what I’m aiming to do with the final yarn.

 

 

The plied: I did one repeat of a feather and fan stitch. As I was knitting this, the yarn felt very fuzzy, without actually losing any loose fibres. Knitted, it doesn’t look as fuzzy as I thought/feared, but there’s definitely some fuzz. Not enough to lose much stitch definition. Another weird thing- the metallic bits looks yellow in this sample, rather than the copper of the original batt/singles. Strange. It feels a bit smooshy to touch, but that might be the hint of garter stitch (knit every fourth row, and a garter stitch bit at the top before I cast off) or the fact that it’s thicker, being plied rather than the singles. I feel like there are bits I would want to change if I were knitting with this yarn, but I’m not sure what, and as I like the single, there’s no point me trying to work it out.