Sampling

I'm usually too much of a weenie to do any sampling when I spin.  I don't want to waste a single gram of my delicious handdyed fibers.  Ironically, fabulously handdyed fibers are generally the ones that would benefit the most from sampling.

As I'm still learning how to photograph things before I start deconstructing them, there are very few beginning-of-this-project pictures in this post.

If you'll recall the singles mentioned in THIS post however, we'll get off to a decent start.

These singles are Targhee wool in "Garland" from my Hello Yarn fiber club April shipment.  They are bright and happy and wonderful, but I only have 8oz. and I'd really like to stretch it as far as possible.  

My May shipment of club fiber is a luminously sinister set of colors in "Cauldron," also 8oz.  

I really wanted to combine the two - mainly because that way I'd end up with almost a pound of the same yarn, but also because I've been dying to blend up two colorways and see what happens.    I asked the wise yarn sages over at ravelry and was informed that it would either be a brilliant pairing or a muddy mess.  Ugh.  

I braided the two colorways together (you're going to have to take my word for this as there were no photographs taken,) and asked the long-suffering Mr. YarnMadeMe for his opinion.  His answer of "I have no idea, you're the yarn expert" was both flattering and totally unhelpful.  

This is where sampling comes in.  I split each long strip of roving into six (more or less) equal widths and spun one long strip of each color, plus another half ounce of "Garland" on it's own.  

The horribly edited photo above is fairly representative of the outcome.  The skein on the left is 1ply each of "Garland" and "Cauldron."  The skien on the right is "Garland" alone.  While I'm completely in love with "Garland" all by its vibrant lonesome, I love the blended skein enough that it's where I'm headed next in the particular yarn adventure.  

Stay tuned for picture of a POUND OF SUUUUUUUUPERYARN!!  Dun dun dun!