One of the main pillars of my personal crafting philosophy is “the things I make are meant to be used.” I learned this from my mother, an avid quilter, who always insists that the quilts she makes get used. So, our house is covered in quilts, which are covered in cat hair, get spilled on, and eventually wear out. Since I’ve recently bought myself a spinning wheel, I decided I needed to make something that I can get use of. So, I challenged myself to spin some yarn and knit something out of it. The result was a charming little scarf with a ton of texture. And in this post I’m going to walk you through what I did in the hopes that some other new spinner will find this and be inspired to use their hand spun yarn too!
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How the Hand Spun Scarf Project Started
A little over a month ago, I snagged a used Ashford Traditional spinning wheel from the creative reuse store, The Waste Shed. I had picked up some small bits of spinning fiber over the last few years, as I was playing around with spindle spinning, so I started out by playing around with those. Eventually, with the help of an online class from the School of SweetGeorgia, I filled a bobbin with a weird mix of colors and textures. This long singles yarn was mostly unusable. But towards the end, I’d started to produce a yarn that was reasonably consistent.
I wanted to keep practicing, but I also knew I needed a bit more of a plan to keep things interesting for myself. So, I started looking through my stash for a suitable fiber. I found a braid of Malabrigo Nube (merino top) in 042 Plomo I had impulse bought at The Dropped Stitch a few months back. At about 4 ounces, it was enough fiber that I knew I could get enough yarn for a small project.
So, I set a goal for myself: spin a quantity of yarn that was structurally sound enough to knit and then make a thing with it.
Prepping Malabrigo Nube Fiber
I have since learned that there are things one should do to prep Nube his before spinning. I didn’t know it when I stated, but Nube seems to have a reputation for being a bit matted and hard to spin. Some blame the dyeing process, others say that it’s because the fiber is vacuum packed during shipping. All I know is that the braid I got was definitely a bit of a challenge to work with.
But being a “noob” myself, I went right into the spinning process. I did split my fiber into two chunks of equal weight, but that was because I wanted to try making a 2-ply yarn. My plan was to fill two bobbins with equal amounts of fiber by weight and hope for the best.
I also didn’t consider color management at all. I decided that the best thing to do at this point in my spinning journey would be to let the various shades of navy and grey fall where fate decreed. With such subtle variations, I just didn’t think there was a way it could turn out unusably bad.
Spinning the Singles
I decided to aim for a worsted weight yarn, but to spin this project with a “what will be will be” attitude. Meaning, if something got too thick or thin, I would just keep going. Because things weren’t really properly prepped (and I still only sort of knew what I was doing), it was immediately clear that getting an even single was just not going to happen. But as long as it was structurally sound, I decided that would be OK.
As I was spinning I also decided to err on the side of over spinning my singles. I was willing to accept that I’d have bits that were a little too hard or that kinked up during the plying process if it meant that I wouldn’t run into bits that fell apart due to under twisting.
Once I got spinning, I quickly realized that I couldn’t draft directly from the fiber source, as it was just too compacted. So, as I went I split the fiber into manageable strips, each an inch or two wide and a foot or two long. Then I pre-drafted the strips by gently pulling them until the fibers started to separate and slide against each other.
Once I started pre-drafting, I was able to spin singles that were more or less the right size when I did a ply-back test and measured them using the pretty WPI gauge I got from Sunrise Grove. There was still a fair amount of variation, but I was happy with my consistency (for a beginner at least!).
Spinning the whole braid into singles took a little over a week. I made at least a little time for spinning every day, so things progressed steadily.
Plying the Singles Together
The plying process went pretty quickly. Again, I erred on the side of over twisted vs under twisted. But honestly, I found controlling the spin a bit more difficult with plying than with making singles.
I think part of my issue was that I was getting impatient during the plying process. It just isn’t as much fun as making singles! It was also the last step before I would be able to start knitting.
The one thing I did really love about plying was watching the colors change. Some parts ended up a uniform grey, while others were barber poled with the deep purply navy. It was really fun!
The Finished Yarn
Once I wet finished the yarn and allowed it to dry, I was actually pretty happy with what I ended up with. Yes, the yarn was inconsistent, but it wasn’t so inconsistent that I thought knitting it would be impossible. It mostly hovered around worsted weight, but there were section with everything from fingering to super bulky.
I also liked the way the subtle variations of color turned out. Since I hadn’t gone in with any color placement plan, some areas ended up largely the medium grey, others had more of the blue,
Picking a Knitting Project For My Hand Spun
I generally prefer to make wearable things (rather than home decor), so I knew I would want to make some sort of accessory. I also wanted make something that would use up most or all of the yarn I’d spun without having to worry about running out. So I didn’t want to make anything that had to end up specific dimensions.
I decided to just improvise a simple I-cord edge scarf, similar to the popular Sophie scarf. The plan was to increase every six or so rows on one side and do seed stitch instead of garter stitch in the main section.
This ended up being a really good plan. I started knitting and immediately loved the texture. The seed stitch highlighted the quirks of my handspun yarn. And the rustic texture worked with the uneven color placement. The finished scarf was a great size. I was able to comfortably wrap it around my neck twice and tie it at the front. I’m sure once the weather gets a bit colder I’ll get a lot of use out of it!
Do you have any good ideas for using slightly wonky novice handspun yarn? Let me know in the comments below!