Erica/Jillian Yarn

My friend Erica makes the best yarn. She has a great color sense and blends colors on the fly. She puts things together that I never would, and they look fabulous. My friend Jillian set out to do what Erica does. She watched Erica spin and watched how she put colors together and figured out a way to explain it to me so I could do it too.

I have a stash of fiber that's so special to me that I can't bring myself to spin it. It's called the Box of Love (tm). I knew that to try this technique, I had to spin something I really, really loved - so into the BoL I went. My friend Lynne Vogel doesn't dye too much anymore, so her braids are almost sacred. They make gorgeous yarn, but they're so precious that I've had a hard time parting with them. I had 3 oz each of Blue Jean Baby and an unnamed green colorway in 75% BFL and 25% tussah silk - dreamy. I knew these were the ones.

Lynne Vogel Ltd - Blue Jean Baby

Lynne Vogel Ltd - unnamed greens

You pick 2 colorways that have at least one color in common. It's kind of hard to see (because my camera is dying) but there's an ice blue that is common to both of these. Then the trick is to strip the top down and hold a piece of each colorway while spinning. I spun a pretty thin single, knowing that I would ply it. The picture of the single below is blurry, but you get a good idea of the way the colors blend together almost giving a barber pole effect in a single.

Blurry single still on the bobbin

When you ply the 2 singles together the colors blend and swirl like an Impressionist painting (gorgeous even though I say it myself).

2-ply in the skein after washing

end weight: 5.9 oz
wpi: 12
fiber: 75% blue faced leicester/25% tussah silk