Q&A

Grace asked some questions about my spinning:
1. How do I like my moosie? Very much. I particularly like it for spinning merino/silk. The moosie is smallish, but dense for its size. The silk content in the fiber makes the singles able to support quite a bit of weight for the cross section. The denseness of the whorl lends itself to spinning fast and for a long time. I've 2 oz of the merino silk my sister gave me for Christmas. I will be spinning it for a very long time.

2. Do I use a tensioned kate? Yes, I have a Ewesful Kate that I got some years ago from Jude Pilote. I have not been able to determine if she's still making them.

3. The blending I'm using? This is Beast. My understanding is that Beast was the odds and ends leftovers of roving from Brown Sheep. This would fit in with what I know about Brown Sheep yarn content. I had understood that Beast wasn't being made any more, but more of it seems to be showing up, so now I don't know. The various greys seem to be of a type - sort of Romney-ish - open crimp, doesn't felt too much. The dark black strikes me as being mohair - shiny, not much crimp, strong, and the longest fiber. The all white bits are shorter, easily felted (somewhat felted in places), and crimpy - I don't think merino, not exactly like the Targhee I've spun before, but something along those lines. This makes for a varied spinning experience. The grey stuff does a lovely long-draw. The black bits are ok on a long-draw. The white tends to be clumpy - sometimes it drafts long draw, sometimes it doesn't, and almost always ties a little knot here and there. I'm going with the "neps are character" theme here and not stressing too much except where the little knot winds up seriously impacting the cross section of the singles. I'd rather it didn't snap on me.
4. Am I going to overdye this? I think so. I'm not in the market for another grey shawl at the moment, so if it's going to be a shawl, I'll dye it. If it isn't - if I make a vest or something, I might leave it grey. I definitely love the depth of shade possible when overdyeing the greys like these.
This picture is of the three-ply yarn I just finished:
And this picture is the horseshoe lace trim on the Wool Peddlar's Shawl I'm finishing up. This was a previous batch of white/grey/black wool (not Beast, a mixed shade Corriedale fleece), overdyed with cherry.