For Your Review: Spinning An Art Batt

I recently picked up this 2.4-oz art batt at StevenBe. It reminded me of a seashell, with copper, blues, greens, and even some white and dark navy mixed in.

There is more than one way to spin a batt, but I decided I wanted to work this one up in what are sometimes called "fauxlags." I started by unrolling the batt and fluffing it up a little.

Then, I used a ruler to hold down one end of the batt and tore off a strip, across the width of the batt.

I took this strip and rolled it up so that the fibers ran perpendicular to the length of the roll. 

I repeated this process until the whole batt was in these mini rolls. Then, I long-draw spun them on my wheel. It was fun to watch the colors and fibers progress. 

Once I had the singles spun, I couldn't decide what to do with them, so I pulled off a length to see what a 2-ply would look like. 

I like it. It's a light worsted weight. 

But, I wanted to see what else this batt could do. I made a small sample skein (5 yards worth), tied it up, and washed it in hot, then cold water, to see if it would full or felt up into a fluffy, stable single yarn. I dried it, unweighted, because I wanted to be sure it would be balanced.

This is before washing.

This is after washing.

Once dry, I knit up a swatch with the sample. I used #5 needles and worked in all stockinette stitch.

The swatch is nice and stable, and doesn't bias in either direction, so I know that felting the singles made the yarn balanced enough not to twist the knit fabric. 

I love it, and keeping the yarn as a single also maximizes the yardage I'll get out of this cute little batt.

Now, off to Ravelry to look for a project...

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.