Spinning vs. Knitting

This year I have been spinning a heck of a lot more than I have been knitting. As of early August, I have knit approximately 411 yards of yarn into completed projects. These have been small projects, like dish cloths, a hat, and a produce bag.

However, I've spun 5165 yards of singles, producing 2940 yards of finished yarn. I can spin a lot faster than I can knit. This is not helping me reduce my yarn stash at all.

I'm also working to finish sweater quantities from two of the batches of roving from Spinderella.
One is an Aran weight 2-ply from a Romney fleece. The fleece was one of the first that I bought off the internet. I got it from some 4-H kids, if I recall correctly.  The yarn is a light to medium gray color. I think it will make a nice shawl collared cardigan, perhaps with some cables in the body.

 
The second batch is a DK weight spun from the fleece of a Shetland sheep named Jocko. This was a Fleece Fair purchase. I spun up a sample skein and have decided to keep on making a DK weight, 2-ply yarn.

I did a couple of smaller spinning jobs to break up the monotony of the larger projects. I took my jar of fiber odds and ends, plus some commercially prepared wool, and made a nice batt that is predominantly a medium gray with bits of color streaking through it. It produced 64 yards of 2-ply worsted weight. It might make nice stripes in a hat. Or I can save it until I make the next spinning waste yarn.

The other small project was spinning a 4 ounce batch of yellow merino-nylon top from Hedgehog Fibers. It was on the sale table at Fibre Space last year and the colors (yellow with brown and magenta) reminded me a bit of Halloween. Spun up, it has retained an autumnal feel. Yellow leaves, red apples, gray rains. I have just over 500 yards of a light fingering. I could try to make socks with it but am not confident that it is spun or plied tightly enough to wear well. Instead I will look for a shawl or stole pattern. Perhaps I will find a mostly solid coordinating yarn. The dark brown shetland might make a suitable companion if I spin it to match. I'll have to swatch. The dark color might overpower the yellow blend.

I have also done a bit of additional spinning on two long neglected projects. One is dark chocolate brown Shetland that has been spun into a DK to worsted weight 2-ply yarn. This is a fleece I also picked up at the Fleece Fair. It's a fairly small batch of roving, only weighing 32 ounces. I spun most of it on my Ashford Traveller. The last skein was plied on my e-spinner. For consistency, I'll keep spinning it on my Traveller. I have a decent collection of skeins, most of which are of unknown length.

There is also a seemingly never-ending supply of Merino roving from the Amana Woolen Mill. I have, over the years, spun a sizeable quantity of a light worsted yarn. I should probably figure out how much yardage of it I actually have, then figured out if I want to just spin more of the same yarn or work to produce something different. I could use it to practice my ultra-fine spinning. It could make some lovely fine lace weight.