Silverton Sweater: Test Spinning

I spun up two of the batts I’ve been making for the Silverton Sweater project. Just to document this process properly and recap a bit, here’s a quick shot of my boy, Silverton, a little wet and leaf-covered, just the way he likes it.

Look at that smile.

Here’s a one ounce batt that consists of roughly 60% Silverton’s fleece, 20% Merino wool that I dyed blue, and 20% white Tencel.

60% Silverton. Make that 60% of AWESOME.

I test-spun two of those batts. With the first batt, I pulled off pieces and spun it over-the-fold with a supported long draw. I knew this would ensure a truly woolen yarn, which would give it softness and loft. With the second batt, I pulled the batt into roving and then spun the roving with a modified worsted draw — instead of really short pulses, I let my front hand pull the fiber a bit longer than you normally would in a true worsted draw, while also pulling the fiber supply back a bit, and then I smooth the single with my front hand down to the drafting triangle and repeat. Here’s a shot of the finished yarn from the second batt, plied 3-ply. It’s not the best light, but it’ll do for now.

A short section of 3-ply test.

Tonight I knitted that yarn into a test swatch with some impromptu cabling, since I know I want cabling in the final sweater.

Beautiful!

I absolutely love the blue tweedy look combined with the beautiful natural color of Silverton’s fleece. And it’s very soft. This is the semi-worsted yarn, and tomorrow I plan to swatch the true woolen yarn to see which one I like better for the final project.