Fractal Spinning

I wanted to take a minute and show off my spinning.  I’m making yarn for our SAL/KAL on Ravelry.  I started with this 4 oz braid of Targhee in Forest. It is specially dyed so that each section of color is a bit larger than the previous, planning for a triangular shawl.

For a Fractal yarn, you want to make a two ply with one ply being more stripey, and the other ply less so. In my final yarn, I’ll have the full repeat of colors within the larger repeat….so in the pale green section, it’ll ply with the all the colors from pale green to darker greens, to tan, to brown. Then the same progression against the medium green, then the dark, etc, etc.

To do this, I first split my top in half (well, as close as I could).

Next, I took one of the halves, and split it into 4 parts, in a series of thicknesses.

So now I have five pieces of top. A 2oz bit (top of picture), and 4 bits that are parts of the other 2oz.

I’ve been spinning the smaller bits, smallest to largest. Here’s my progress after the third, I’m about to start the fourth.

I’m spinning short forward draw, with my miniSpinner set at about 10 o’clock, aiming for a softer yarn that I usually spin. I’ll ply it up more firmly. Worsted-ish is not my favorite way to spin, but the mS likes it, and it is a pleasant way to spend the evening….I put on a podcast or start an old TV show on my laptop, and just happily spin away for an hour or so.

I’m going to get started on the 4th and largest of the fractal bits of the half, and am snuggled up against the cold (7 degrees F out….wasn’t it 60 degrees just 2 days ago?!?!!!) with my cat on my lap.  Winter may be cold, but it is a great time to get a lot of spinning done.

Edit to add…..see the resulting yarn and the beginning of my shawl.