Spinning Acrylic

It is a secret we tend to keep only to ourselves, but we are all friends here, right? Spinning one's own yarn does not save on the overall cost of wool. In fact, just the opposite is true, unless you get your fleece for free. Roving, that wool that is already cleaned and carded making it ready to spin is not cheap. One can easily spent $20 on four ounces/113 grams and if it is spun poorly that four ounces might yield as little as 100 yards/91.5 meters. Should it be spun well, the numbers improve. If that wool is hand dyed the expense can be even more. And a hundred yards is just about enough to knit one hat, cap or toque.

So imagine my happiness when I found an acrylic yarn at Michael's for $9.99 that contained 10.5 ounces/ 300 grams. It is called Chunky Grande Big! by Loops and Threads. I picked out my favorite color combinations and began to prepare it.

This yarn comes with two large strands rather simply plied together and my intention was to spin only one strand at a time. This meant the yarn had to be cut into lengths that were manageable to make the separation easier.

Once freed from one another the spinning began. It was like spinning pencil roving.

This is fine yarn for me

To my surprise this acrylic was easy on the hands (I expected it to be rough) and of course the staple was perfect for spinning. The long-draw worked well with this stuff. I have much of the 10.5 ounces spun and intend to chain ply it so that each of the colors remains distinct.

There is one person I know who loves purple and pink. Perhaps we can discuss what she might like made from this yarn and see what can be done to accommodate that request.

Until then, I might look for other acrylic yarns like this. It makes for an inexpensive way to practice spinning.

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Flagel Knitting Files

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