Skein #32: Yarn of Consistent Quality in a Two Ply. Different Fibers in Each of the Singles

Image 1: Fiber Sample Image 2: Blended Alpaca and Nylon Image 3: Blended Wool and Mohair Image 4: Yarn Skein Image 5: Yarn Detail

Fiber

Wool, Mohair, Alpaca, Nylon

Type

Romney, yearling Mohair, carded baby alpaca, Icicle

Reason for choice of this sample:

Both blends contribute to halo. The wool holds the slippery mohair and the nylon gives the alpaca some sparkle.

Source

Preparation for spinning

The wool and mohair were scoured, flicked and drum carded. The alpaca and nylon were drum carded. Both were pulled into sliver.

Equipment Used

Dog brush, drum carder, flyer spinning wheel

Type of spinning

Short backward draw

Direction of Twist

Z/S

Number of plies

2

Finishing

Washed and dried with light tension

Suggested uses

This yarn is designed for a special occasion knitted sweater, with a lot of halo and a touch of sparkle. It can be used for knit, crochet or woven garments or as an accent yarn. Use as weft with a plain mohair warp for a shawl.

Notes

Maximum 54 points

Examiner 1: 54

Examiner 2: 48

Both liked this yarn, although I'm not sure what about it Examiner 2 thought was worth marking off six points. I wanted to say more about the fiber content (the wool and mohair were both from raw fleece, Icicle is a nylon) but I barely had enough room on the card to name the four different fibers.

The wool/mohair blend worked the first time, but the other took some thought. Originally I tried four fibers, all white, with just a hint of colored fiber to show the two different blends. But the bamboo/lyocell just didn't want to blend without carding. I don't have the equipment to card these long, silk-like fibers so I was attempting it on combs. Finally I dug up a small amount of alpaca batt and the bag of Icicle someone unloaded on me. It took several trips to visit the drum carder to get these two blends finished. I was resisting making a yarn full of shiny stuff just to have something to blend in.