I FINALLY finished the yarn from my Metal Straw Hack post.

OK, I finished it a while ago, and I’m just now getting around to sharing!

This Wild Hare colorway in “faux cashmere” (aka nylon) was named “It’s Complicated”. Luckily, spinning it was anything but! It was soft, fluffy, easy spin. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of how the fiber started, so you will have to imagine the intense pink, purple and orange colors and cloud-like texture.

Plying proceeded slowly because I plied from each support spindle to a separate drop spindle, and then had to join those five separate parts. (You can see photos of this in the previously mentioned Metal Straw Hack post.)

I connected the ends of the plyed yarn using the Russian join method, like I did for Crushed Velvet. It was more fiddly than Crushed Velvet because I spun it more fine, and getting the needle through the plies was tedious. 

The results: 330 yards+ of three-ply self-striping yarn in thrilling, brilliant colors. Because I chain plyed it, the results appear to be about fingering weight, so I may knit socks for myself. The material is nylon, I don’t think shrinkage will be an issue while washing. The problem with socks, is there are so many sock patterns to chose from, it’s quite overwhelming to decide on just one. Plus, I prefer knee length socks, but my calves are larger than most patterns accommodate. If you have any sock pattern recommendations for larger legs, I would love to hear them!

As December creeps along, I realized how much yarn I have created so far this year, and I *still* haven’t finished my last knitting project. In other words, I produce yarn WAY faster than I use it! I have finished one singular scarf made with handspun. My Angelique shawl was going well, once a friend explained how to read a chart rather than relying only on the written instructions. I made it to row 29! And then I discovered three dropped stitches that unraveled 8 rows back. I tinked, row by row, as carefully as I knew how, but managed to drop even more stitches in the process! Now I am in such negative territory, I find myself contemplating whether it would be faster to frog the whole thing and start over! (sobs)

How are you fiber projects proceeding, as 2019 draws to a close?