I have a special thing for spiral-ply yarn, the kind with one ply of thick and thin. So much so that I've decided to knit a sweater out of spiral-ply yarn. I know it will pill, especially since I fell in love with merino fiber beautifully dyed by Lisa Souza.

I knew I needed to sample, but I didn't want to over think the sampling part. I could spend forever sampling and tweaking and never get to the sweatering.

I spun a couple of samples. One just to have a starting place and one to correct what I didn't like about the original sample.

The first sample (on the left) was ok, it did the bubbly spiraly thing I like, but it definitely needed some adjusting. The things I changed in the second sample (on the right) change the look a little and help to make it a sounder yarn. I spun my core single with a lot more twist because I had a couple of spots that drifted apart when I plied with the tension I like in a spiral ply. I shortented the distance between the thick spots. In the original sample I made a thick spot and then two drafts of thin, in the second I made a thick spot and one draft of thin. Overall I the changes are small, but I like the yarn better.

The best part is the knitting. It's light and lumpy, bumpy with great squish. I can't wait to see a whole sweater out of this yarn!