Hawk and Yarn

Through all my walks around Prospect Park, all those picture taking expeditions, I always wanted to spot a red tailed hawk. I’ve seen them a few times in and around the park. They aren’t rare. But nope, not a single one. And then, last Wednesday, I went to the bedroom window. The trees have lost most of their leaves and the branches are visible. A few mourning doves were hanging out but flew away in a panic. And then I saw it. I just watched the hawk, thinking it would just fly away soon. It stayed. So I got my camera and it was still there when I got back.

The pictures had to be taken through both window and screen so they’re a little fuzzier than they could be. Still, that’s a view I would never have gotten in the park. Isn’t it beautiful?

Then, there’s the yarn. Yeah, nothing to do with the hawk but there you are. It took me over a year to spin this one. My spinning goes in spurts. I’ll spend a month doing only that and then I’ll stop for 3. So it takes a while, especially with a drop spindle.

The fiber is from Into the Whirled, Herding Cats colorway, 60% Polwarth, 40% Tussah silk. It wanted to be spun quite thin. I thought of doing a 3 ply but I don’t enjoy it. Plying on a spindle isn’t fun to start with so I tend to stick to 2 ply. I tried to split the fiber into 2 even parts but they ended up quite uneven so I made a center pull ball with the leftovers and plied that from both ends.

I’ve noticed that, no matter how careful I am, the start and the end tend to be a different thickness. I think it has to do with the spindle’s weight changing as more yarn is added to it. When I plied my two singles together, I started from the end of one single and from the beginning of the other to balance out the thickness of the final yarn. It isn’t perfectly even but it’s better. I love how the colors blend.

It’s about a light to medium fingering weight, no clue how much of it. I can’t wait to see how it knits up.