not so ugly after all

The other day I thought I’d try a different way of dyeing roving. Things didn’t exactly go to plan. The first time I pulled it out of the dyebath I wasn’t thrilled with the results. The colours were off and it looked like it had fulled. I let it dry for a while, but hated it a little bit more every time I looked at it. I panicked and threw it back in the dyebath with more dye, but the light was fading by this point and I couldn’t actually tell what I was doing properly, our indoor lights are terrible for colours. When I looked at the roving the next day I was sure that I’d dyed the ugliest roving ever.

A few nights ago I was fighting the urge to cast on for a new project when I already have so much on the needles, so I decided the start spinning this ugly little bundle of wool. Turns out I don’t think it’s quite so ugly after all. It’s spinning up into a pale silvery purple which I’m finding quite pretty. It’s also nowhere near as fulled as I thought it was and is quite a joy to spin!

I finished spinning half of it in only a few hours whilst starting to watch Game of Thones (I heart Sean Bean, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite so much rutting and boobies!), and I’m looking forward to spinning the rest up. I was aiming for a thicker single than I usually spin, but it’s proving a bit of a challenge because if my concentration wanders and I don’t actively concentrate on spinning a thicker single then my fingers naturally fall back to drafting for a thinner single. I often hear that spinners reach a point where spinning thick yarn becomes an effort, and it’s certainly true in my case. This single is probably quite uneven as a result of all my concentration wavering, especially towards the end where I started to rush to finish my spinning before the end of the episode I was watching so that I wouldn’t be tempted to start another!

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