Moving Along With Spinning
It had to happen eventually - I have finally gotten to the bottom of the blue superwash tub! Really! I have completed 4 jumbo skeins of 4-ply cabled yarn and have enough singles to make 2 more. All I need to do is ply them - l-a-t-e-r! I just need to see something passing through my hands that isn't blue.... you know?
The first thing I grabbed is the black Cotswold fleece from Wooly Wool of the West . The sooner I get it spun the sooner I can get back to work on my Cotswold sweater. The fiber's nice and squeaky clean! since I'm spinning it fine I didn't feel the need to card it. I just picked up the locks a handful at a time and started drafting. Cotswold is so nice and slick that it spins fine like a dream! Any veg matter is easily flicked out of my drafting triangle. That meant there was usually an area of fine scatter on the floor near the wheel every time I worked with it but it was quickly gone with a little brush and dustpan.
I use my Baynes for spinning all my singles. I actually can't think of many other types of wool that could be spun as fine as this, right from the clean locks. Bulky singles from almost anything, I could see, but to spin this fine from rough fleece I can only see Cotswold coming up consistent. It has a smooth, silky hand, almost more like hair, but it is indeed fleece. It's very soft too - really quite amazing. Cotswold is a long-wool breed which makes it a heritage rare breed - certainly one worth preserving! The staple length on this is about 4 to 6 inches which makes drafting a breeze! I love catching the tip of a lock and just pulling back until the single is so fine you can almost count the strands in it. I figure about 2 spinning sessions and I'll be able to move on to something else. I have a line up of smaller lots of fiber I want to spin into singles before I bring out the Bea again to do plying.
One other observation, is that I can't get over how fast my spinning has become since doing the singles marathon with the blue superwash. My control is much better which means greater consistency in my fine singles but I fully intend to test it on spinning something a bit thicker too ... so we shall see just how much I've improved, eh? My comfort zone is pretty fine now - time to shake things up a bit! So stay tuned! Cheers all!
I use my Baynes for spinning all my singles. I actually can't think of many other types of wool that could be spun as fine as this, right from the clean locks. Bulky singles from almost anything, I could see, but to spin this fine from rough fleece I can only see Cotswold coming up consistent. It has a smooth, silky hand, almost more like hair, but it is indeed fleece. It's very soft too - really quite amazing. Cotswold is a long-wool breed which makes it a heritage rare breed - certainly one worth preserving! The staple length on this is about 4 to 6 inches which makes drafting a breeze! I love catching the tip of a lock and just pulling back until the single is so fine you can almost count the strands in it. I figure about 2 spinning sessions and I'll be able to move on to something else. I have a line up of smaller lots of fiber I want to spin into singles before I bring out the Bea again to do plying.
One other observation, is that I can't get over how fast my spinning has become since doing the singles marathon with the blue superwash. My control is much better which means greater consistency in my fine singles but I fully intend to test it on spinning something a bit thicker too ... so we shall see just how much I've improved, eh? My comfort zone is pretty fine now - time to shake things up a bit! So stay tuned! Cheers all!
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