Unspinning

What is unspinning you might ask. Well, remember the pretty alpaca silk I got the other day? Well, it came as a four ply laceweight, only it's a cable ply. That means that two of the plies were plied together and then the 2-ply yarn was plied together with 2-ply yarn. This means if you unply it, you end up with two strands of very fine (about JaeggerSpun Zephyr fine) 2-ply yarn. But to do this, you can't just knit off the cone and wind the other strand because you'll still have the twist which will just twist more, so you have to get rid of the twist. So what I did was wind a bobbin onto my wheel full, then I treadled counter-clockwise to get rid of the twist as I pulled the yarn from the bobbin to two ball winders (okay, really a ball winder and a niddy noddy on which I then used the ball winder.) I know sounds complicated and too much trouble, doesn't it?

Well maybe so, but take a look at this:

I know still doesn't look like too much, but when you consider that it's only the first 20 rows of the Forest Path Stole. And it's just so delicate that I know my stole will be wonderful!

I'm still working on the Faux Russian Stole and the cashmere scarf, but as the stole is nearly done and the scarf won't take too long, I have to start something new. (Oh, just for Jody, you may be absolutely shocked to hear that I finally plan on picking Madli back up after I finish my scarf so I can retrieve my size 5 tips. She's calling to me again.)