Beauty and the Beast

There is only one way this story can be spun, with an intuitive order that interests the reader.

That would be backwards.  Beast and the Beauty.  

Doesn't roll off the tongue, does it?  Makes me wonder if people like the bad news first, and then the good news last.  Or maybe finishing a set of nouns with a single syllable word, BEAST, ending in a consonant, that puts a mental bookend on the phrase.  Beauty and the Beast.  

I pulled out a hank of alpaca that I purchased when I first started spinning.  Packed as an 'paca puff, it was wrapped in paper around the middle, with poufy soft brown alpaca at both ends.   This was special stuff I had been saving.  

I finally know that saving the best til last is silly.  Either the m*oths will get it, or our fiber friends will  inherit everything after we pass on.  More fun to spin it now, yes?

No.  The batt was homegrown.  The alpaca was nasty.  Soon after I received this batt (2006), the farmers sold their animals and moved on.  I could feel the karma of cutting corners in this fiber.  The prep was perfunctory.  Second cuts, VM, tippy ends that broke off in the carder to form rough nepps the size of Jupiter, all in the same 3.6 ounces.  

I complained to my fiber friends.  They told me to stop spinning it.  Throw it out.

Character flaw = I really can't stop spinning this once I've started.  I couldn't just rip it off the wheel and throw it into the compost.  I paid money for this.  (The fact that I was now paying time did not seem to matter.)

I wrestled it into submission.  Silk purse, sow's ear, all that.  But now I have to ply it.  The single is part of my 'Spin Six Pounds in 2012'.  Pat really rained on my progress parade when she told me that it is not enough to have spun a single.  It must be plyed to count.  And, of course, she is right.  This will be n-ply, quick and dirty.  

Who is Beauty?  

 CVM/alpaca/angora/flash, slipping peacefully, happily through my hands.  When Beauty asks to be laceweight, all one can do is obey.  AnneP called this one Gandalf in 2007.  Has anyone ever done a threeply for lace?  I have six ounces, and it would be easy to do.  This fiber is beautifully blended, harmonious, and a wonderful spin.  

I don't quite know what I want to do for the Tour de Fleece.  I might pull out a small BFL/Churro fleece that I split with a friend.  Or I might let the Tour pass.  Next year, I'm planning on another theme suggested by a fellow spinner:  spin only fiber I have had >5 years.  I like that.

My two frogged socks are now beyond where they had previously ended.  Color Affliction was the next victim.  I had the first part done, and had started the stripes.  Perhaps I interpreted the mods in Rav a bit too literally.  Start each row with a yarnover?  Check.  Done.  But the wonkiness became overbearing enough to go back to the helpful Rav notes.  Oh.  K1 YO, then finish the row.  Not YO, K1, finish the row.

I have never frogged this much in my knitting life.

And So Are You was trial-blocked, dry.  I don't think the edge is too tight, and I will continue with the ruffle.  

In the meantime, I am thirsting to start this.  Down, girl.  Down.

Comments

[margene]

Life is too short to spin bad fiber. How much good fiber sits as you struggle? I, too have some Gandolf, but then I have way too much fiber and little inclination.
Note: Follow directions on CA....the edge should be tight. You'll be happier with the end product, trust me.

[Anne]

Well now, THAT is going to be a stunning yarn, no matter what. 3-ply lace doesn't show off the lace quite as nicely as 2-ply, or so I've heard, but prove me wrong. I'm game if you are. :)

[Bev]

Yes, life is too short to spinn poorly prepared and processed fiber. But, the spinning is more than making up for the bad, beastly stuff. And, the shawl is beautiful. Start it now...nudge, nudge.

[Marcia]

Anne is right...according to Judith, 2-ply is best for lace. I'll see if I can find her reason written down somewhere. (I haven't touched a wheel in more than a year!)@

[naomi]

Eh, it depends. Do you like patterns that are cabley and lacy? Where stitch definition (3ply) would be nice? The YO holes won't be quite as pronounced, but there's no overwhelming reason why no one should ever knit lace with 3+ply yarn. (See: all lace knit with sock yarn.) (That said, I would probably spin it as a 2ply if it's not going to end up finer than you want to knit. But that's me and my fondness for spinning 2ply yarn.)

On the other hand, why can't you stop with a single? Full it, use it as such, and it's yarn. It's only still proto-yarn if you wait to wet-finish it until it's plied.

[Caroline M]

I agree that keeping things for best is a waste of time, I used to visit auction houses and see so much lovely tablewear that had never seen a knife. It is a pity though when your dreams turn to second cuts and nepps.

[Carole]

I have no problem throwing away fiber that I find to be crappy. Time is more valuable than money. I'm glad the stuff from Anne was good and that it made up for the other.

[Risa]

I have no problem tossing bad fiber either. Life is definitely too short and there's so much good stuff out there that I won't waste my time with crud. But then again I have far too much fiber in the stash :)

[gayle]

I'm way too stingy to throw anything out. Even bad yarn can be useful - even if you have to felt it for coasters...
(This may explain why my fiber stash weighs more than I do.)

[JJ]

My last lace shawl was a 3-ply. I did not notice any deficiencies because of it. It's your fiber, and there are no spinning police. If you're worried about lacy parts being obscured, go with bigger needles.

[Melissa G]

Having just completed a 3-(chain- actually)ply lace project I found it graphically dramatic rather than delicate. Fun, but US6 or 7s are about the largest needle I'm comfortable with, larger and I feel like I'm trying to knit with chopsticks.

[Kim]

Of course you can spin 3-ply laceweight yarn, but you probably want to knit something other than lace with it. 3-ply makes the yarn rounder, lace looks best when knit with a flatter yarn profile, i.e., 2-ply or singles.

But sample, if you're so inclined. Make sure you love it before you invest the time in making a 3-ply for lace.