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Dear Jan,

That post title would be more accurately put as “The grey 1.183 mile…”  Yep, that’s 2082 yards* of 3-ply from the grey portion of my Targhee cross fleece.  I spun it woolen, drawing out the singles fairly fine, and I’d say it has resulted in a heavy fingering or perhaps sport weight yarn.   I love the color (which happens to match Wilson’s hair perfectly).  The photo with heads up on the dime is the singles, the tail side shows the 3-ply.

That is a lot of yarn - 8 skeins, some quite big.  How does one bloom the fiber and set the twist in that much yarn?   Not in the bathroom sink, that’s for sure.  I figured if I washed the fleece in the washer, certainly I can wash the yarn there, too.

I like to track my yarn as I spin it, keeping notes on method, fiber, yardage, and date of production on a paper tag.  Of course these can’t be washed with the yarn.  I use the plastic locking stitch markers to mark the tags and the skein they came from so I can match them back up again later.  With 8 skeins and only 2 colors of markers, you have to get creative with  color combinations to keep them all clear.

I filled the washer about halfway with warm water, added a goodly amount of wool wash, turned the washer off, then laid the yarn in on top of the water.  Wow, did I mention that is a lot of yarn?  I pushed it gently under the water and then went away for about half an hour to let it soak.

I then skipped the wash cycle ahead to the final spin cycle. I wanted to avoid any water being sprayed on the yarn which might cause some degree of felting.  A good spinning got most of the water out - the yarn left the washer feeling fluffy and substantially softer.

Upstairs to the deck where I laid a heavy towel out on the table and then, WHACK!  This is the aerobic part of spinning, giving each skein about a dozen whacks against the towel, moving my hand position around the skein as I did so.  This causes a woolen fiber to bloom and helps set the twist so the yarn won’t go wonky on you as you knit.  Here you see the freshly whacked yarn, already looking fluffy.

I set up a drying rack inside the shower stall of the spare bathroom.  As you are aware we suffer a kitten infestation here, so I wasn’t taking any chances.  The yarn was nearly dry about 4 hours later.

The final yarn makes my heart sing.  And this method - way easier than hand soaking, squeezing, rolling in towels, etc.  Drying time is cut by something like a full day.  Unlike the Hemlock cat bed, this experiment was a 100% success.  I give it an A+.

Now to figure out what to knit. I’m looking for a cardigan pattern suited to the slight texture and color variations of homespun.  Any suggestions?

Love,

Ellen

*Note, as  this is a 3-ply, that was 6,246 yards or over 3.5 miles of spinning for the singles that make it up.  It does keep me off the streets…