Tue 12 Mar 2013
I dyed up the fiber for the Blue Eyes sweater back in May to use up the last of my stock of Finn fiber before our move to Boston. The fiber was just shy of 3 lbs, which is more than I’d usually spin for a sweater, but I wanted to use things up and so dyed it all. It doesn’t hurt to have extra, and Branden sweaters require a good amount of yarn, because he is long in the torso and arms.
Well. I have been spinning off and on since June, and have just finally finished the spinning for this project. I haven’t been spinning much at all lately, so it’s taken quite a lot longer than it normally would to get through the fiber. Add in the extra spinning for Mike’s sweater and a couple of other small projects in between, and somehow it’s been 9 months since I started.
The project might have dragged on for another month or two, even, had it not been for the fact that I am running short on yarn for the new sweater I’m inventing on the fly (it doesn’t have a name yet; must fix that). I wanted to get the Finn off of the bobbins and free up the wheel for the new yarn, so I’ve pushed my way through the last 5 or so bobbins in the last week and a half.
I have just a tiny bit of fiber left, and I’ve been debating whether I really needed to finish spinning that last little bit, or whether it could really go into the fiber-mixing collection that I’ve been building up. The best way to answer this was to calculate the yardage for the sweater yarn, and to see where we stood. I usually tally my yardage as I go, but between one thing and another it just hasn’t happened for this project. I knew I had a amassed quite a pile of skeins, but had no idea of the actual yardage until I sat down today to count.
I have 2670 yards of 3-ply, DK to light-worsted weight yarn. That’s just shy of 1.5 miles. No wonder it’s been so long on the spinning wheel!
I think I’ll probably have enough, don’t you?
The yarn is beautiful but please finish spinning the last little bit instead of putting it in the wool hopper!! You won’t know if you need it until you are almost done. I’m spinning the merino I dyed at your house–just started yesterday. It’s a little over a pound.
Oh, the yarn is very lovely. Definitely sounds like enough!
LOL – Even Branden’s long arms shouldn’t need that much! But I wouldn’t blend that leftover into a batt until you finish the sweater. That would be tempting fate, and with yarn so pretty it would be a shame not to have enough to finish every last detail of the garment.
Oh wow–that’s a lot of spinning! I can’t being to imagine how much time it must take to get so much yarn spun up. Must be why I haven’t picked up that hobby yet… 🙂 I really looks like lovely yarn, though.