These red braids are one of the first fibers in my now-decently-sized fiber collection - two braids of BFL/Silk in "Vamp" from Pigeonroof Studios. I was certain this deep red-colored fiber would translate to deep red yarn, and it sort of did, via a surprising route.
I decided to spin these 9 ounces into a 3-ply yarn. As an experiment, I referenced a new favorite commercial yarn, Spirit Trail Fiberworks Paivatar. I took a bit of that yarn, unplied it, and taped the paralel singles to an index card. This would be a way to check that my spun singles matched up in diameter.
There are lot more advanced calculations that can be done for spinning, like twists per inch and plies per inch. Through these calculations one could even hope to produce Paivatar's handspun twin. Maybe some day I will be a master of these calculations. For now, I am not ready for spinning math. I just matched the diameter, made a little 3ply sample with fresh singles along the way, and hoped for an even yarn.
One of my favorite parts of spinning hand-painted fibers is watching the colors change - they line up on the bobbins into neat stripes. What looked like solid red in the braids turned into stripes of maroon, rose, hot pink, and even light blue. hmmm, I suppose I am not getting solid red yarn after all. What would it look like plied?
Maroon. ish. Isn't it funny how such bright fiber turned into subdued yarn? I wonder if this is usually the case with spinning fiber. After all, there does seem to be a lot of super bright fiber out there. The colors in the plies remind me of Cascade 220 Quatro, where each ply is a different color. And overall it is pretty consistent - that little index card worked!
Yardage is 500 yards of about DK or worsted weight. The color could be right for a fall scarf. or, maybe a cowl and mitts. I just bought some classic-preppy cordovan loafers and this totally matches. I'll let it marinate in the stash until late summer and see how it looks then..
