Sweating over Sweaters...

Over on the Tour de Fleece Ravelry team thread we've been having a bit of a chat about spinning for larger items. Sometimes it's very easy to end up only buying 100g braids, either because that's all there is in the budget, or because it's the only one left in a colour you just need to own...
I try to dye in 400g branches, and whilst that's not quite enough for a jumper all by itself (though in some cases it can be...) one of the things I wrote about in Spinning Hand Dyed Fibre were ways to combine fibre to get bigger quantities of yarn. 
A relatively recent "thing", I hesitate to call it an invention because I've seen variations of this method discussed for years now, is a Combo Spin. There was an article in the Winter 2017 edition of Spin Off. Some versions just involve plying different braids together, but others get you to chunk up the fibre and spin it in a random order. Both are great ways to combine braids, and get bigger quantities of yarn.

My one note of caution.... if you're chunking your fibre then you do need to have a similar fibre type in all your braids. 
So for example, putting together my Romney Silk & Linen blend with the BFL & Camel is going to produce a yarn that has patches that are very different in texture. You could ply them together, but small sections of one type of fibre, and then a section of another is going to produce an unusual fabric. The example I spun above used Superfine Merino, and Bond & Silk. Thos 2 fibre types are similar enough that I could have spun chunks at random, but in this case I just plyed them together. 

If you want to spin for bigger projects then there are a few things you can do to make not much fibre go further... 
- Spin finer, sweaters at a finer gauge use less yarn by weight.
- Pick a pattern that uses lace in some way, and is worked at a looser gauge. 

I've made Hitofude twice now, both times it only took just over 400g of fibre. The open front is particularly friendly for flexible sizing, and it's knit top down after completing the sleeves so you can keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Goodale is a similarly flexible pattern. It's top down, and originally written for short sleeves, but in my version I put the stitches on holders. Knitted the rest of the body, then divided my remaining yarn in to 2 balls. The sleeves were as long as I could make them before running out of yarn. 

This yarn was made from 300g of batts that were carded from 2 different colourways of hand dyed braids. This mixed up the colours and fibre types, but there was still some variation in the yarn. 

Then of course there are option to combine handspun and commercially spun, or plainer handspun from a fleece or solid colour fibre. Yokes are a lovely place to use up a smaller amount of interesting yarn.  They don't get as much wear as elbows so you can also get away with using a more delicate fibre than you might on the main body.

Garter Yoke Cardigan is great for this. My version using last years Tour de Fleece yarn still needs the buttons... just make sure you check the helpful notes in the other projects if you like a slightly narrower neckline.  The same idea, but in reverse is this pattern, Anora uses bands of colour at the bottom, and a different yarn for the band and collar. Imagine each section worked in a slightly different handspun, but ones that co-ordinate together. A pattern like Breathing Space would also suit a combination of colourful handspun and plainer yarn. You could use alternate skeins for the stripes if you didn't have enough yardage in the contrast colour.

Finally there's this option. Taking 5 different colourways, and spinning them as separate skeins, but then knitting them in to one pattern using alternate skeins to gradually move from one colour way to another. So Faded is in essence a top down raglan jumper. It uses fingering weight yarn, so even for the largest size (54" bust) it only takes just over 500g, and just over 1800m of yarn.  You could substitute for a basic raglan pattern of your choosing, but there are some helpful hints in changing the yarn colours in the original pattern.  You could even work in a heavier weight yarn, but of course you'll the need more fibre. 

The one really important thing. Be honest about the thickness of your spun yarn, otherwise the quantities required won't match... A WPI gauge and a control card helps, but make sure you check a sample of washed yarn. I also like to keep a sample of commercial yarn around, the yarn used for a jumper like So Faded is much thinner in reality than many spinners like to call Fingering (4-ply). The tips for sampling I wrote a while ago might be helpful. If you're in a hurry scroll down to the "Pattern then Yarn" section.

I think, in order for this concept to work well in handspun, it needs to be yarn that doesn't have broad stripes, so I'd look for variegated braids with unpredictable bands of colour, and subtle blending. Just as with the Combo Spin principal you realistically want to use similar fibre types. You'd get away with combing  Rambouillet and Superfine Shetland, putting Superwash BFL & Ramie with BFL & Baby Camel will work less well! 

So, shop your stash... look for 5 braids that will link together. Lay them out and look for a common colour between braids. You don't have to stick to one fibre dyer, though that might help. I have certain shades that I know I use in lots of braids! 
Need some ideas? Here's a few combinations I put together out of the show stock (nb. these don't stick to my rules about combing fibre types, I was more interested in the colour combos)

If your stash isn't very well endowed, or you're a bit nervous then I will be dyeing some fibre packs. Who's up for a post Tour de Fleece Spin-Along?