Fiber Friday: Spinning Color

On a whim I signed up for a Craftsy class, Spinning with Dyed Fibers,  to learn more about spinning all the lovely dyed tops you can buy or dye yourself.  Since I'll be opening my own shop here soon I'm eager to learn anything new that might help me think about my colorways and how others might want to spin them.




After watching the videos I grabbed the Mountain Colors Targhee in Peppergrass I had in my stash and got to  spinning. First, I laid the fiber out to see what kind of colors I had to explore. At first glance it seemed rather random.  There was actually some progression: lt blue, lt green, dk blue, dk green, lt blue



I  pulled off some fiber and started dividing it up to try some different ways of spinning it up.  This is my first time spinning targhee and I love it.  It spins easily and it's very springing and soft.

Sample 1 -

I pulled off a section of color above that runs from a light blue-yellow-dark blue - dk blue green- light blue.  Then split that bit in half then in half again which gave me a 6 gram bit of fiber that was thickness of my thumb.

I spun this short forward draw with twist entering the fiber supply.  Then chain plied it to preserve the colors.  I forgot to do measurements for yardage which I will do in the future.   It's a light worsted yarn,


Sample 1 - On the bobbin


Sample 1 - 3 ply yarn that should stripe some.

Sample 1 - Knit the sample on US 7 - 4.5 needles.  I like the color progressions.


Sample 2

Sample 2 - Split the fiber up like above.



Sample 2 - Then flipped the colors around so the yellows overlap with the dark blue green.  2 ply, 5:1 ratio, short forward draw. sport-dk, 6 grams



Sample 2 - How it looks on the bobbin



Sample 2 -  2 ply sport to dk weight yarn.


Sample 2 - Knit on US 6  - more muted effect than Sample 1


Sample 3

Sample 3 - took a full color section -  then separated the colors.


Sample 3- Divided each color in half again


Sample 3 - 5:1 ration over the fol long draw with some take up.  Take two colors at a time over the fold so I get some color marl in the singles.


Sample 3 - 7grams got a thick and thin worsted  2 ply


Sample 3 - Knit swatch gives me more variation and marled colors.  This creates a more all over color with some bits of yellow green.


From the top: Sample 3, Sample 1, Sample 2


Sample 2 - Sample 1 - Sample 3

My two favorites are Sample 1  and Sample 3 . Sample 3 I think will knit up like it shows whether I knit a sweater or a hat.   However, I think Sample 1's  striping will be less noticeable in larger item.  If spin the full thickness of the top with out splitting it might come out close for a small item like a hat or mittens.  So I'm going to spin like I did for Sample 1 using the full thickness of the fiber then knit up a hat.