In my last post I wrote about spinning a 2nd Shetland wool top from another dyer. The spinning tools were the same & the process varied only very little. As I saw during spinning, yes, the yarns proved to be so, so different.
Now that they are finished, I wanted to come back & compare them.

Tale of 2 Shetland wool spins
Furiosa from Sheepy Time Knits’ Female Heroes Club is on the left. Its 2 skeins weigh 115 g, and are around 187 yards (748 yards per pound). The colourway shifted gently, and as a conventional 3-ply lilacs and reds shoot through the darker tones. There is depth to the 3-ply and the colours never muddied. I suspect that Mandie kept her painting to the length of the Shetland staples but won’t be asking her to spill her trade secrets!
There was some but not very much kemp in this braid. How long to wind-off the wheel? 8 days.

Autumn Wedding colourway (Sheepspot), foreground
The Autumn Wedding from Sheepspot at Woodstock was lighter at 104 g. The handspun yarn measures around 179 yards (1,925 yards per pound).
These were both quick spins, and again I didn’t analyse this fibre’s painting sequence. This braid had 4 colours in a non-repeating pattern with different lengths between the 4 colours. In other words, purple was shorter than pink, and there were strong ochre & orange runs as well. The 3-ply from this braid is also complex but with strong, warm colours. I will use this handspun in a separate project and not paired with Furiosa.
There was a fair bit of kemp, and the yarn is 5 g lighter than the braid was after the picking out. How long to wind-off the wheel? 4 days.
The minor difference
To recap the method, both braids were spun on Wee Peggy, plied on Martha (Watson) spinning wheels with the same set-ups. I divided each in thirds by measuring length, and fished out kemp before spinning. It was a worsted-style spin across the full width of top in the same order of thirds, 1-2-3 order.
It diverged only in Autumn Wedding when the last ¹⁄3 proved heavier by approx. 11 g. How I handled that was to stop, weigh, and add the last 5 g of hot pink to the 1st bobbin. The up-shot is that last-dyed from section no. 3 walked up to section no. 1. It’s a subtle shift but gets noted as enhancing what we spinners call a barber-pole effect. It was still uneven but that’s the 2nd skein, 30 yards.
This is just one approach for colour in spinning: keeping an open mind for what the dyer has created. Next to each other but not a pair, the new handspun Shetland yarns are:
- a subtle, cool, heathery version with a heavy worsted-weight grist; and
- a bold, warm, multicoloured version with a light sport-weight grist.
A side-note – do not pass over a mill-prepped dyed Shetland if there’s some kemp. You can easily pick it out, still have a quick spin, and avoid (gah) scratchy (sometimes called rustic) handspun skeins… just ditch that kemp!

Testing handspun yarn choices, Drachenfels Shawl
There are times when combining handspun yarns can seem like a good idea only for it to be you know, not. My winter 2017 Drachenfels shawl has the (front-to-back) Targhee, Blue Faced Leicester & I substituted a Columbia for that beaded mohair/wool skein. By fall 2017 it worked so well with Romney for my Starry Stripes Handspun Vest.

Made a great handspun vest
The details are not important. This time, I already know that these Shetland yarns may never pair well for me. That’s okay! I am already scheming for the new skeins to be Pierogi Slipper Socks by Sarah Jordan and/or a tea cosy. Both feet & steeped tea cry out for these warm, cheerful colours!
For now the 2 wheels are staying empty for a bit. Not only am I still knitting the 2 handspun projects but there’s a nicely developed warp plan for Swedish lace 2-tone napkins to grace our home.