I finished spinning the Nerd Girl Yarns Lux Top that I have had on my wheel since last July! I am absolutely in love with this yarn and am already looking for knitting patterns. If you have any suggestions, let me know!
Official Stats
- Wheel: Kromski Fantasia
- Spinning Twist: S (clockwise)
- Plying Twist: Z (counter-clockwise)
- Ratio: 8:1
- Singles Yardage: 1,680 yards
- Fiber: Nerd Girl Yarns Lux Top (85% Merino, 15% Silk) in I Am Bad Wolf, I Create Myself
- Finished skein:
- Ply Structure: n-ply
- Weight: 4 oz
- Yardage: 560 yards
- WPI (Wraps Per Inch): varies a little, but average around 21 (fingering weight)
- Ravelry Stash page
About This Project
I started spinning this yarn last July as part of a Care of Magical Creatures: Bowtruckles OWL for Harry Potter Knitting Crocheting House Cup. This yarn took me forever to spin in part because of the silk content and partially because I did not spin at all for a couple months due to my weaving obsession!
This was probably not the best fiber for me to spin at this time, given my level of spinning ability. I’d only spun 1.75 pounds of fiber prior to this, and had just about gotten to the point that I might be able to get a consistent single. Maybe. Silk is a tricky fiber to spin, both because it likes to be spun so fine and because it tends to have little noils (short bits of fiber) that are difficult (impossible?) to spin and tend to come into the yarn as small chunks. I thought the low proportion of silk in this fiber would not make that big of a difference, but I was wrong about that! The silk content very much affected the fineness of the spin (some portions of the singles are so fine, you can barely see them), the speed I needed to treadle, and the ratio I used (fine thread needs more twist = faster treadling & a higher ratio).
Despite the challenges, the vibrant colors of the fiber enchanted me and kept me at the spinning. I truly think that I would have given up if it wasn’t for these colors, so thank you to Christa and her team over there at Nerd Girl Yarns! The sunshiny and buttery yellows, and the almost-electric blue are truly beautiful!
I spun this yarn from one end of the braid to the other, attempting to keep the colors in order. I did get a little bit of barber poling as I transitioned from one color into another and I loved that! I chose n-ply (aka Navajo ply or chain ply) because this ply structure works from one end of the single to the other in order, again maintaining the order of the color.
This yarn has anomalies, especially where I joined new fiber early on in the spinning. As I continue spinning, I get better at the joins, but I do still have room for improvement. I’m not stressing about it, though. I’m sure I will find a knitting pattern that will help to obscure any of these anomalies in the yarn!
Overall, I’m thrilled with it and can’t wait to knit with it. I’m tempted to carry it around with me everywhere I go — if I weren’t planning to spend the rest of my day doing yard work, I’d probably do just that!