#single ply

[dreamsinombre]

So, a while back, I started designing a shawl inspired by the City of Tears in the game Hollow Knight. I originally used a colorway I got from @exlibrisfibers on IG that was discontinued on a base that was discontinued (the smaller, lighter version in the last four photos), and while I absolutely loved the perfectly moody color scheme… not enough yarn. So I reached back out to Rita to see if I could get the colorway special in a similar base, and boy did she deliver.

The final, absolutely massive version is on her Anaïs merino/silk base and the drape is absolutely divine. It feels like spider silk, which is so perfect for a shawl inspired by a game plumbing the depths of an ancient bug kingdom. It's moody and melancholic, like the rain-filled cavern of the dead City of Tears, with its leanly arched windows, ornately spiked elevators, and elegant, sleek-pillared corridors with sentry husks still patrolling with empty carapaces—all elements that are represented in motif panels in the shawl.

It calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000-1100 yards of fingering weight single ply, and should result in a wingspan of about 58"-60"/147cm-152cm.

Biggest thanks to Rita of Ex Libris Fibres, for feeding both my addiction to amazingly soft yarns with brilliant colorways and my love of good books (and book recommendations), and to Team Cherry (@TeamCherryGames on twitter) for creating and sharing with the world a game that has become one of my absolute favorites that contains not just stunningly gorgeous art and delightful-feeling movements and mechanics, but also a layered and complex story and world that is one I love to revisit over and over again.

This is a pattern I'd love to eventually translate into something others can follow, among a small handful of others, especially if there's interest. I'll be sure to share it here if I ever get around to doing so.

[exercise-of-trust]

ended up taking 2 months to finish but they're finally done! the roving is divine dyeworks oceana, 6oz of merino chain-plied to about 550 yards of light sport/heavy fingering. the streaks of green and purple ended up much less pronounced in the final yarn but honestly i'm fine with it; i like the more subtle heathered look.

[edorazzi]

It's Tintin Day again!!! ✨

It's been Olympics season so here's to the cutest meme. Chang learns new things every day from his strange Euro friends! 🤩🥇

[thatsbelievable]

[elucubrare]

i'm spinning on the first spindle i bought because it was the cheapest available, and no wonder i couldn't make it work on my own - it simply does not spin for very long before turning back on itself.

just one more entry in the thick logbook of times when it's actually totally fine for a workman to blame their tools.

[dyke-arachne]

Socks I made before I learned that just because a base has the word sock in it doesnt mean it will be good for socks. Hence these will exclusively be worn when my feet arent gonna touch the ground.

[milkweedman]

Made a ply ball to make this plying less annoying. I still have fiber left to spin, but I've decided to get started on plying anyway.

This is the suffolk/hampshire blend I've been working on, on and off, for the last couple months.

Nearly there.

Also, some snowdrops for your trouble.

[comfortabletextiles]

Plyed the 12 first days!!

[frogeyedape]

Finished this project today, not related to the spin along but came out well enough to share. I have decided on slub yarn as a standalone singles for my February spin along project. I'm going to have to make sure to really lock the slubs in or it'll be a nightmare to work with...but I think it would make some really interesting weft. Especially if I dyed it after spinning, cuz I generally spin very tight, so the thin sections between slubs would resist dye, and the slubs would be pops of vibrancy. Haven't decided how much I'll make, depends how much time I give myself to spin it. Likely not more than I can pack onto a 4 oz bobbin.

[mspiggy]

lawns are bad because they waste all the water that could instead be put to use installing bidets in every single public toilet

[lexicals]

I fuckin. Accidentally S spun this second bobbin when the first one was Z spun and had to put the whole thing back through the wheel in the other direction to fix it which took a whole hour and doesn't look as good as it did before honestly but it's FIXED I GUESS

[mischief-tea]

[andromedasummer]

the yarn dyer down in dunedin that my mum buys yarn from is a real one. celebrated france fighting back against the alt right on her business/dyeing insta. called one of her prettiest yarns SJW "in honour of people with a moral code and a backbone". genuinely sad it sold out before i got to ever knit smth with it

[elucubrare]

i really have to start weighing my fiber before i start spinning

[dyke-arachne]

Randomly struck with such a violent need to make this shirt and I have the yarn for it. Augh

[milkweedman]

I haven't blocked this yet--so far the other two puffed up a ton, so I wanted to get a picture first, because I'm very happy with it. It's chain plied, but so much more even than my chain plied yarns usually are. I think it's only a bit thinner than the 4 ply main yarn, so I still couldn't get this singles as thin as the 4 ply yarn. Glad I stopped trying to 4 ply it, I guess.

It's also got subtle stripes, which is always appreciated.

Unfortunately though it's only 22 yards, which is not very long. I am hoping to do a small black sheep on the heel since I'm working it flat, so I could do fair isle instead of intarsia. I'm not sure if I'll have enough for that but I could also just put it on the ankle or leg and use the thicker yarn (earlier failed attempts to spin the dark southdown locks fine enough) to knit the body of the sheep so it's a bit bigger. Please nobody suggest I embroider or duplicate stitch it on, I'm not doing that to myself