I've been spinning my first bobbin of Impala's fleece and had to make a decision on what to ply it with. Choices were : itself, silk, merino.
I thought it would be lovely spun with silk so spun a bobbin of that. Unfortunately, when I plied the two together, I just didn't like it. The silk took over a bit too much and became the main focus, which wasn't what I wanted at all.
So then I plied a bit with some merino (from Maco Merinos) that I had left on a bobbin. This was much nicer and very soft, but again, the merino fluffed up more than the alpaca when it was washed and the alpaca was a bit "lost".
Finally, I just Navajo-plied it by itself and guess what? It ticked all the boxes. Beautifully soft and fine with no competition from another fibre. Interestingly this, being in effect 3-ply, was finer than either of the other two which were 2-ply. Now why didn't I try this first?
And for comparison, on the left is alpaca/silk, on the right alpaca/merino, and centre stage is Impala, pure and simple :-
I thought it would be lovely spun with silk so spun a bobbin of that. Unfortunately, when I plied the two together, I just didn't like it. The silk took over a bit too much and became the main focus, which wasn't what I wanted at all.
So then I plied a bit with some merino (from Maco Merinos) that I had left on a bobbin. This was much nicer and very soft, but again, the merino fluffed up more than the alpaca when it was washed and the alpaca was a bit "lost".
Finally, I just Navajo-plied it by itself and guess what? It ticked all the boxes. Beautifully soft and fine with no competition from another fibre. Interestingly this, being in effect 3-ply, was finer than either of the other two which were 2-ply. Now why didn't I try this first?
And for comparison, on the left is alpaca/silk, on the right alpaca/merino, and centre stage is Impala, pure and simple :-
Very useful experiment. I've never plied separate fibers like that, only spun them blended first - got some alpaca/silk top sitting around in fact.
ReplyDeleteI really like his own colour.
I must admit, I don't often experiment like this, just go with what I've got. This time it was important to me to get it right though, because there'll never be any more of his fleece. Makes it very special.
DeleteI like it very much on its own, looks cozier and like it has a great halo.
ReplyDeleteThank you - yes, I've decided that's how I'm going to spin the rest of it. I can't describe how incredibly soft this is and I think it would be a shame to mix it with anything else.
Delete