Spinning with a wool-silk blend and some FOs

As part of Knit From Your Stash 2007, I told myself I’d try to spin one bundle of fiber each month this year, too, in an attempt to reduce that stash as well. My fiber for April was a 70% wool, 30% silk blend I finally got around to plying last night.  

Here it is as roving:

And as finished yarn (apologies for the blurry detail shot):

Fiber: 70% merino wool, 30% tussah silk, colorway: Concord
Supplier: Carolina Homespun
Quantity: 4 ounces
Finished yarn: 1 skein, 2-ply, 462 yards, 17 wpi (= sport weight)

Spinning with this stuff was interesting. I had to hold my hands farther apart than I’ve had to with 100% wool because of the silk content. Every once in a while I’d hit a small knot of silk and need to give a great tug to separate the fibers enough to spin. There are small slubs of the white-ish silk in the finished yarn which I think adds to its beauty.

For May’s fiber I have 8 ounces of one colorway, so I’m going to go against my usual practice and try to spin a thicker yarn to see if I can deliberately create a worsted weight. Maybe I’ll try 3-ply…

Since my last post I finished two small items that I knit on the bus:

Another drop-stitch scarf, using the last of my stashed nylon railroad-track yarn (thank goodness; I’m sick of the feel of the nylon in my hands):

Pattern: own (cast on 17, 5 rows garter stitch, 1 row k1, yo2)
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Eros Glitz, 86% nylon, 10% rayon, 4% Lurex, color 188
Needles: size 9
Size: 3.5″ wide x 56″ long without the fringe

And a little hat:

Pattern: own (k3 p3 spiral rib)
Yarn: Zitron Trekking XXL, 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon, color 100
Needles: size 2 metal dpn
Size: infant: 14.5″ around by 6.5″ tall

Other works in progress:

• A quick foray into one of Barbara Walker’s mosaic patterns yielded dismal results in a swatch for a potential scarf. I think I need to try the pattern with smaller needles to make it work.
• Worked a few rounds on the yoke of the Icelandic sweater.
• Ran the to-be-felted bag through the wash twice and it felted a lot, but it’s still too floppy so I’ll have to send it through at least once more, so no photo of that yet.
• Lily of the Valley grows slowly… but more quickly than she used to since every two rows decreases the total stitch count by one stitch.

And since Mr. MmmYarn and I went to the zoo today, you get a picture of a sleepy hippo and one of the great colors in a flamingo’s feathers: