I spun the Kingfisher Kent Romney and the Natural Finn and silk. Finn's a favourite of mine. It's lovely and silky and smooth and soft and a real treat to work with. I'd never spun any Kent Romney but it took me by surprise - it's quite crimpy and rough as a fibre at first, but that seems to give it an advantage: it doesn't slip through your fingers and allows you to easily control the thickness, giving you a smooth and even yarn.
The aim was to make the Kingfisher colours the focal point of the yarn by plying with a neutral, meanwhile using the natural beige to make the Kingfisher colours seem richer and more earthy. It worked pretty well! There's bits of maroon, red, navy, deep green... as well as lilac and sky blue and coral and pink. It reminds me of a wooden watercolour palette.
I ended up with 226m from 310g of fibres, 2-ply, at 7 wpi. It's thick and fluffy, and well balanced after a good soak.
I had a fair bit of Kingfisher left over from the plying balls - not really sure why, as both were spun at the same thickness, must be due to density - so I decided to chain ply it. I got 22m at 6wpi, from 40g. A little barperpoling, I really like the effect.
That takes my handspun yardage (...metre-age?) to 486m so far this year :)
