Practice, Practice, Practice

I took a couple of days off from spinning after the Master Spinner course.  I was tired and needed a bit of time to compile the near overload of information.  On Monday morning, I dug through some piles of stash, deciding that it was time to use up some of the weird things I've been hoarding saving for future use.  Out came the black Shetland lambs fleece.  It cost an enormous amount of money to have commercially processed as it was so full of veg. matter and chaff.  It still is for that matter as they couldn't get all of it out.  It also has a lot of short bits in it. Obviously, I didn't catch all the second cuts and weak tips before sending the fleece out.  However a lot of the v.m. flicks out when spinning, some is easy to pick out before spinning and the rest I am learning to live with.  It spins up to a nice yarn, despite the "rustic" additions.  

I spun up a small skein to practice the long draw, using some North Country Cheviot  and some of the R.H. Lindsay 56s.  I don't have a photo because I put the small skein aside.  It seems I put it aside with several other small skeins of similar weight, diameter and fibre, and can't tell the difference from one to another.

Last night, I pulled out my fine carders and some ginned cotton.  Having spun cotton for the first time in class, I know I will need a bit of practice, before I can produce an acceptable homework skein.  Cotton is a very short fibre, compared to wool.  It requires a long draw technique in order to keep one's sanity while spinning.  Ginned cotton, is full of neps and little plant bits.   It needs to be carded into thin, little punis before it can be spun.   This is the result of an evening's work, carding and spinning 10 punis.   Note to self, use contrasting colour of thread to tie up the skeins, as the white on white just looks like I've spun some very thin areas, and while it's not all that consistent, it's also not that badly inconsistent. 

Today, after I finish up some weeding and planting the rest of the garden - 2 Rosemary plants, 3 Cosmos and the Weld to still go in, I shall pull out my wheel and start practicing some more.