Aurora Yarn

At last, I finished spinning the aurora batt. This project came about through a series of events that involve hand-thrown pottery, the northern lights as seen from Ontario, a Boston convent, and one of my spinning classes in Toronto. It reminds me that just about any experience is reliant on dozens or hundreds of interconnected happenings before it.

It was a delight to spin. Primarily wool, it was peppered by bits of more lustrous fibres, such as silk noil, mohair, and firestar. These shinier elements stand out in the final yarn, even through the chain-ply, and bring to my mind stars and meteorites.

The project went essentially as planned, with a couple of minor issues with a few meters that ended up being all mohair and prone to drifting apart. What I’ve learned for next time is to great increase the twist in those sections of slippery fibre, then drop it back down again for the wool.

The twist in the ply is greater than the twist in the singles, so it appears a little bit curly when freshly off the bobbin. The unbalanced twist energy will easily block out in the final knitted scarf. Unlike a number of spinning experts out there, I don’t think a yarn should always be perfectly balanced (although if I’m spinning for competition, I’ll take the “smooth and balanced” requirement quite seriously). There’s a lot more options in yarn design if you relax the “singles twist must be equal and opposite to ply twist” rule.

What I’m really pleased with is how the colours turned out. They’re in separate sections, for sure, but there’s a nice gradation between colours as well. I think they mimic the original image very well.

The next step in this multi-part endeavour is knitting the yarn into a scarf/wall-hanging. My part is done but I can’t wait to see the finished the product.