Monday, October 29, 2012

Let Me Spin You a Yarn

I realized I have not shown my readers my latest yarn that I've spun.  I think I have the hang of it, now especially since I'm not looking at it as I spin, rather going by feel (for my neck's sake).

I got a pack of 8oz of plain old, non-dyed, cheap ($9.50/8oz) wool roving from Pacific Wool and Fiber.  The wool is great.  I really like the earthy feel to it, and it spins better than the fancy wool.  This wool really grasps, rather than being shiny and slipping.  I did find a place in TX, Mohair and More, with the same Corriedale Cross wool roving that has a better shipping price ($5), though.  Gotta support the locals.  I'm ordering my next batch from them of the same wool.  I'll let you know if it's not the same quality.

I think my yarn turned out great!  Here's the first wool I spun ever vs. the first of the above wool I spun:

handspun yarn


The last half of this wool came out even better.  It actually looks like yarn!  I am working on a sweater for my husband right now out of this yarn.  The wool even smells a little like sheep, but in a good way.

handspun yarn
This is a single ply of yarn on the bobbin on the spinning wheel .

handspun yarn
Close up of the single ply of wool on the bobbin.
handspun yarn
You can see it's not overly tight like the first yarns I did.

handspun yarn
You might be able to tell that I used my first yarns on the bottom of the sweater.

So far so good.  I think the spinning may get addicting!  I need to look into growing my own cotton.  That'd be fun!


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