I finally finished the cashmere/tussah silk handspun yarn! It was a challenge (not as easy as wool) but I made it work.

(in progress photos can be found HERE)

I am still considering using this in the stripe study shawl as the contrasting color.

It took me a bit to find a way to spin this yarn that I wanted – which was more of a supported long draw than worsted. Here’s a very basic description of how I did it.

I pulled off a bit of the fiber and drafted it out sideways.

I folded that in half.

Then, from the tips, rolled into rolags(ish) and spun from the end. (I don’t really consider them to be rolags ’cause I didn’t card the fiber.)

I had just enough tension on my wheel to pull the fiber out gently and I pulled my fiber hand back slowly, matching the speed that the twist entered the drafting zone. I used my other had to control the speed & pull from my wheel.

I learned a lot from from spinning this yarn and got something very soft and pretty in the end. Soooo worth it!