Yarn Along - I Don't Understand How This Stuff Keeps Happening To Me

That's always Maisie's big line, but luckily this hasn't happened to me before.  I've always loved the yarn I've spun.  Wait, loved?  Past tense?  What happened?

28 ounces, ready to ply.  Plying day is always my favorite.  I love to ply (apparently I'm in the minority?).  I love to see my yarn really take shape.  Yesterday was the day!

I pair up all my balls of singles, thicker and thinner, trying to make sure that the finished yarn is as consistent throughout as possible.

At this point I was still thinking the extra "goodies" in her yarn was my biggest problem.  You really should click to biggify.  And you good spinners out there are probably already starting to raise your eyebrows...  Does that look like 1/2 of a worsted weight yarn?  Does it look like it has enough twist in it to be a durable enough yarn for a sweater, especially a hard wearing barn sweater?

Um, that'd be a no.

I realized pretty early I'd blown it.  No wonder it was taking so long to spin a worsted weight yarn.  It wasn't worsted weight.  In fact, it's probably closer to sport weight.  I pulled off a sample and washed it, hoping for the best.  I'd blown it.

I sat there dumbfounded for a bit and finally decided to try a three ply instead of two.  Three ply yarns are nice yarns, good for cables because with their "roundness" they show stitch definition better than a "flatter" two ply.  The three ply felt too thick :-(.

Just about the time I was starting to hyperventilate, Tim called.

"What's going on?"

"Maisie's yarn is giving me fits."

"Is it bucking and kicking and trying to bite you?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that's Maisie for you!" .......and I had to laugh.  Eventually.  And kind of weakly.  But he was right.

I knit a sample with each washed yarn.  I didn't like the three ply sample much at all.  Stella looked at it and agreed.  I knit the two ply sample and didn't really like it either.  It was too thin and probably could have even gone down a needle size.  The three ply was knit with a size 6 and the two ply was knit with a 3.

The three ply is on the left and the two ply is on the right.  See how the three ply yarn looks round?

After washing and blocking both samples, I like both a little better, but still not a lot.  The three ply is a little thicker than I wanted and the two ply is much thinner than I wanted.  I stewed about it half the night and am still undecided on which way I want to go.  I think these are my only options, but maybe someone smarter than me has a different idea?

In the meantime, here is Maisie demonstrating her normal morning routine.  I only feed grain to the lambs and the pensioners.  Everyone else just gets hay.  Somehow Maisie tricked me into sneaking her a handful of grain this winter and now she's trying to train me to let her have more.  Interestingly, she stills wags her tail when I hand feed her, just like a nursing lamb.  She's probably figured out that keeps me under her spell ;-).

Here she's butting the gate, really trying to make her point!

And Hank, having made his morning loop around the house and yard, has come back to see what's going on and to try and help me regain order take a nap.

I can't even remember what I was reading this week :-o.

Joining in with Ginny.