Fiber Fridays: Ready to Ply

I have just not been making as much time to spin this Summer as in the Winter time. It makes sense: it’s warm and sunny outside in the evenings, so i’d rather be hiking than sitting down covered in fiber…..  but if i’m to get any yarn finished in time to knit into things for the coming cold season, i’d better get on it! My most recent project is a 2 ply yarn of merino and pygora. I scored a few ounces of pygora fiber from my FAVORITE Rainbow Farms Pygora booth at the Black Sheep Gathering this spring. Pygora fiber is normally $11-$20 an ounce, but this stuff was cheap cheap CHEAP! For a reason: the mill had overprocessed their fiber and the resultant batts were nappy and difficult to work with. I went with it. Instead of trying to get perfectly smooth and fine yarn, i went for the ‘thick and thin’ look and will be using the finished yarn for a lacey but ‘handspun’ looking garment instead of going for a perfectly uniform and exact finish. I’m pretty stoked about it.

While i was spinning the pygora, despite its nappiness and difficult to work with nature, i fell in love. I had already fallen in love with Pygora goats and am fascinated by the different coats, especially the “B” coat. Now that i know i love spinning their fiber, pygoras are a MUST on our ‘to raise’ list.

The pygora i spun was in 2ish colors: the orange you see here and a dark yellow. I wanted to ply this with an earthier colored yarn than what i ended up spinning for it, but i think it will look nice. I toyed with the idea of plying the yellow/orange striped pygora with brown- but thought that might be too ‘barber poled’ for the finished result i’m going for. I went with this merino fiber from the Eugene Textile Center: it has little blips of red/orange and blue in it, so i think it will blend alright and the wool will give the pygora (goat) fiber a bit more ‘memory.’  Pictured here are the singles on their bobbins all ready for plying, photos of the finished yarn next week!

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This week’s featured Fiber Friend is up for grabs! The Daily Corgi is hosting a giveaway of this sweet little pup and he’s ready to head to his new home! I’ll be choosing the winner tomorrow morning, so get your entries in by midnight today!

How do you enter, you ask? Here are the rules:

I have already had such fun reading your comments and tweets, and can’t wait to meet more corgi lovers! Hint: for a super “secret” bonus entry – browse my recipes to find one you might like to try and share it with your friends by tweeting, posting on Facebook or pinning to Pinterest. Good luck! We can’t wait to announce the winner!