Mountain stream handspun.

This is my first color experiment since I finished that wonderful Craftsy class. Instead of diving in to Navajo plying (which I've never done before, and the thought of it makes me a little nervous), I decided to try fractal spinning first.

To do that, I split the fiber in half lengthwise. Then I split one of those halves into about eight equal smaller sections. I spun the smaller sections in succession (always putting the yellow end first) to one bobbin. Then I predrafted the second half just a little (to make it easier to spin finer yarn), spun it to second bobbin, and then plied the two singles together. This is supposed to result in stripes, but more subtle stripes with areas of mingled color in between. {More about fractal spinning here.}

I started with this fiber because honestly, I liked it a bit less than the other fiber I bought at the festival last month. But oh my goodness...I am so happy with how it turned out! It was hard to get photos that showed the true colors. I feel like, in real life, the darker blues are more teal instead of TARDIS blue. In the photos it looks like it's a really similar shade to my last handspun, but it's not.

{I didn't intend for this yarn to be DW inspired, but honestly the colors do remind me of Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. Which, of course, reminds me of one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes: Vincent and the Doctor.}

This wool is from Finn sheep, which I had never used before. It didn't fluff up a lot when I soaked it (like Corriedale tends to), but it still feels pretty bouncy because I added more twist while plying than I usually do.

Even though I love the colors, the thing I'm most proud about with this yarn is that it's fingering weight! I seemed stuck in a worsted weight spinning zone, and I thought I would never, ever be able to spin fingering weight yarn. While spinning this, I thought it looked finer than usual (it turns out that worsted style makes it way easier to spin thinner than woolen style), but I didn't want to get my hopes up. But when I measured it...wow, I was so surprised! This is so exciting to me because it means that, theoretically, I could spin yarn for socks! (Once I get some fiber with nylon in it, that is.) I've been wanting to do that for quite a while. Now I feel like I can be a little more versatile with my spinning.

As you can see, I've already caked this yarn up and I think it'll become a hat soon. I need more hats. (Says the person who hasn't yet decided if she's a hat person.) And I think I'll attempt Navajo plying with my next spinning project. I'll just have to practice on some scrap fiber first, because I've heard it can take a while to get used to. :)

For more info and to see pictures of the fiber and singles before they became this yarn, see the project page.