I finished this skein of yarn during the Closing Ceremonies. (And, IMHO, the most boring Olympic ceremony EVER. Good thing I was multitasking.) But, was it really ”finished”?

As I said in my last post, nothing is constant except change, and even after I wrote that post I changed my mind about this spinning project. It was last Friday and I still had to finish the 3rd bobbin and also the 4th bobbin, 50g, of very thin singles to spin, and then ply. I wasn’t going to make it by Sunday. I had a brain wave! I love 3 ply yarn. So, why not 3-ply those first 3 bobbins and be done! Then later I can spin 3 ply yarn again with a different set of 3 colors, and again with yet a DIFFERENT 3 colors. I’ll end up with 3 slightly different colored skeins of about 125g each, which will be enough for a light weight sweater. And that is what I did. (Skein 1 using colors 1,2,3; then skein 2 using colors 2,3,4; then skein 3 using colors 1,3,4)

Back to the ”finished” question. Here is a photo of the skein of yarn on Sunday, just after plying it and skeining it up.

And here is a photo, taken in similar light, in the same spot, after washing and drying.

Here is a close up side by side, unwashed left, washed right.

Can you see the difference? When I finished plying it I was kind of disappointed. It was not very soft and not at all fluffy. It didn’t look overspun at all so I guessed it was just the type of wool and prep (commercially dyed and prepared Corriedale top, fiber from New Zealand, 25-30 microns). BUT, after I soaked it in very hot water and some wool wash, let it hang dry, it’s much softer and is even a little fluffy. NOW I consider it finished. NOW I like it a lot! And I’m enthusiastic about starting on those other bobbins for the rest of the sweater quantity of yarn.