Learning Something New

It's always fun to learn something new. I love learning new things. My latest new thing is learning how to spin a cabled yarn. A cabled yarn is comprised of four single strands. These single strands are then plyed so you have two 2- ply yarns. These yarns are then "cabled" together forming a nice round 4- ply cabled yarn. I thought it would be fun to use a different color for each single. This way you can really see the yarn structure of the finished cabled yarn.

These are my four colors. All are a Shetland/tussah silk blend. The Shetland was dyed prior to being blended with the tussah silk and carded into batts. There are two batts of each color with each color weighing approximately 1 3/4 ounces.

I started with the yellow batts. This photo was taken after the first batt was spun. I have since finished spinning both yellow batts and have started on the turquoise batts. The plan is ply the yellow and turquoise together......ply the green and purple......then cable (or ply ) the two 2-ply yarns.

I'm spinning a soft single. You can tell that it is softly spun by how gently it twists back on itself. Not a tight twist ( like in the photo where the single is a bit thinner). I'm spinning the singles woolen using a long draw. The single is fairly consistent with the occasional small slub.......which I'm not real concerned about. Can't wait to see what the finished yarn will look like.