Plying the Cookie Monster Yarn

This yarn has been all about the Om Nom since the beginning. My sister saw the singles I wound, and she was the one who said they looked like little Om Noms. (See them sans Om Noms here.)


Even an alligator got in on the Om Noms.


Thanksgiving Day I plied the Cookie Monster Yarn. It looks like it's going ok here, but plying was not easy. Just like when I wound the singles, I ran into a lot of tangles and breaks.

(Sorry about the sideways movie.)


Here is one of the tangles. (Yes, that's the UT vs A&M game in the background. Everyone else is watching while I ply in the kitchen.)

There's another picture of a tangle here.


Here is the yarn all plied and on the bobbin. It doesn't look like much, but I think it went pretty far for just one ounce.


Overall, there weren't too many inconsistencies.


Here is the almost finished yarn, although. It's about 104 yards of Merino/Tencel. I haven't measured the Wraps Per Inch yet, but I'm guessing it's lace weight, maybe light fingering. And it still reminds me of Cookie Monster. (Maybe Cookie Monster with braids?)

All I need to do now is set it.

I'm the OmNomNom Nom of the day!

I'm the OmNomNomNom of the day! Check it out.

Mooching at The Knitting Nest

Last weekend when I went home to mooch off Mom and use her wheel, I also made a trip to The Knitting Nest to mooch off Stacy and use her yarn meter. As you can see, they're celebrating their victory.


The shop had several new yarns, including Queensland Collection Tahiti, Elizabeth Austen Andes and Rozetti Baby Soft. However, the Baby Alpaca Chunky Paints was my favorite new yarn. It's soft, pretty and makes for a quick knit.


Of course, I had plenty to do with my own yarn. Here's my Coopworth Single. I now know I have about 251.66 yards (or 755 feet.)


Remember my two-ply merino? I have 202.33 yards of it (or 607 feet.)


Then it was time to measure the Cookie Monster Single I had a lot of problems with it breaking. I may have spun it a little too fine.


I had 208.66 yards (or 626 feet) total.


The hardest part was spinning from the ball so I could have to singles to ply together. Each single is about 104.66 yards (or 314 feet.) Not bad for one ounce of fiber.


Did I mention that I got to spin on Stacy's wheel? It's an Ashford. I'm not sure if it's a Traditional or an Elizabeth.


Somehow, the wheel has both Scotch tension and a double drive band. I'm not sure exactly how that works. I think you can decide which one to use.

I'm starting to think I'm an Ashford person.

You can see all my pictures from my last trip to The Knitting Nest, including more spinning wheel photos, here.

Cookie Monster Single and Fiber Storage

I just finished spinning the Cookie Monster batt into a single. I haven't decided if I'm going to ply it yet. I'm guessing I probably will, but I need to see the yardage first.


When I took pictures of all my fiber for Friday's post I made sure everything was stored in it's own bag and labeled. I'm hoping the plastic bags are ok. It seems like the fiber might need to breathe.

Anyone have any advice on storing fiber long term?

Yarn that makes me want to Om Nom Nom Nom!

After everything that happened last week, I did make it to Kid 'n Ewe. Unfortunately, my camera didn't. I'll have more on that later.

For now, I've already started spinning some of the fiber I bought.


Does this shade of blue look familiar?


That's right, the originator of the Om Nom Nom Nom himself. Cookie Monster's exact fur color seems to vary, although I'm not sure if his actual fur has changed over time or if it's just the quality of the film. Either way, I saw this batt and thought of him. It's so fuzzy and blue.

Anyway...


This is one of the merino/tencel batts that Spinning Straw Into Gold had for sale. Spinning Straw Into Gold's main focus is spinning fur from dogs and cats. But at Kid 'n Ewe Christine had batts for sale in a rainbow of colors. And I couldn't resist the Cookie Monster blue.


I was itching to spin when I got home, and I decided the Cookie Monster batt was a good place to start. This is a piece of the batt, pre-drafted and ready to go. You can see that the Tencel adds some shine. It's very soft and silky. It'd be nice if the real Cookie Monster was part Tencel.


Here's the yarn on the drop spindle. (Sorry for the blurry shot.)


I'm spinning the yarn pretty thin. It drafts very easily. I'll probably ply it, so this is a look at what it may look like completed.


Here's what I've spun so far.

I've had fun looking at at old Cookie Monster clips on YouTube. I found a clip of Cookie Monster before he was Cookie Monster, a disturbing clip of Martha Stewart getting sadistic pleasure out of torturing Cookie Monster and Cookie Monster setting the record straight on the Colbert Report. You can see all the clips I found here.

I'll leave you with Cookie Monster's interview on NPR.