Perhaps one of the best things about spinning is being able to create totally unique yarns. Two companies have recently introduced lines of spinning wool that are simply beautiful to behold. We’ve had the Louet Northern Lights for a while. You may have seen it on the shelf and wondered what it would look like spun. Christel did most of the work that you see in this post, Maureen helped her out a bit. The rest of us cheered them on and enjoyed the results! Here’s what it looks like on the shelf (at least four of the colors):
When Christel spun both the batches of top – Ashford and Louet, she split the amounts in half and placed them in order so she could make two identical bobbins-full of singles. She then plied. The skeins before they were separated were gorgeous:
Don’t they inspire you? I can imagine spinning just a bit of each and knitting with them. They’d be fun spun like this and knit with black for a stained glass window effect . . . or in oh-so-many fun ways! My fingers itch to spin.
Before making them into little skeins, Christel made a ball. This is the Louet:
Anyhow, back to what happens when you play with the Louet. The top swatch (“fruit loops”) is plied with a solid colored blue (Stonehedge’s Shepherd’s Wool Top). The bottom swatch is plied on itself.
This one is “cotton candy” plied on itself, plied with white, then plied with the same blue as in the swatch above.
Here are the Louet skeins as they appear after spinning and plied on themselves. Sorry, I don’t have the names handy, but they are tagged and available for you to fondle at the shop! These are just a few of the colors. We’ve got lots in stock, but a new shipment should be here soon.
And, not to be slighted. The Ashford Merino/Silk Sliver (80/20) is everything it should be: soft, a joy to spin, beautiful to behold and just nice to look at (spun or unspun!). The skeins below are all plied on themselves.
And, then we played a bit. The top, middle and bottom skeins are plied on themselves. The skeins between are one ply of the color above and the color below.
Ack. I want to leave work and go spin now.