More Spindling
When the going gets stressful, the stressed get spinning. I never thought I would find spinning so relaxing and tension releasing. There is something incredibly centering about watching fiber become yarn. Just letting my fingers do something. I have to keep my eyes on the fiber, but there's no counting, no shaping, no stitches. Just gentle tugging and sliding and the occasional need to wind on the yarn or sent the spindle into motion. Both my eyes and my fingers are satisfied and my brain just has to admire the progress.
I have to say that the BFL and the Cormo/Silk rovings that I have been spinning have got me a little bit spoiled. I really liked spinning that Corriedale when I first got it. Now it seems a bit rough (although I love the cochineal coloring and the shine in the yarn) and my fingers would rather be working over the Cormo/Bombyx silk blend.
One thing I've found about this blend is that the silk seems to cluster in areas and you get these little slubby bits going as you spin, places that I just can't draft out the same way as the wool fibers. It creates a very pleasant texture in the yarn. Interestingly, the Cormo/Tussah blend that I bought doesn't behave this way at all. I don't know if that is a difference between the two types of silk or just how they've been blended together, but it's quite noticeable in the final product.
I've made a few more discoveries while spindling along -- spin the spindle as fast as you can feel comfortable doing. It tends to wobble less and it goes longer. It also gives you more twist and for thinner singles, more twist means less chance of breaking. I think that both my spindles are probably a little too heavy for the singles that I am spinning as occasionally I have spindling wipe-outs (where my poor spindle ends up on the floor) that increase in frequency as the spindle accumulates more yarn.
A big thanks to everyone who left suggestions for me about plying. I think now that I am spinning more fiber onto my spindles, it probably makes sense to try plying from a center pull ball. We'll see how this works when I get to a good stopping point with the red Cormo/Bombyx!
wow, fabulous spinning!!!!
nice pink. It's funny that I can spin hundreds of yards of yarn (yes, i'm running out of room)in a day on my wheels but the drop spindle lives up to it's name for me. I'd like to learn but I fear it's too late for me.
Heh. I started with merino, since that's what came with my spindle, and the corriedale I bought was nowhere near as much fun.
I want to see some of the luscious teal stuff from Spinner's Hill!
This yarn looks amazingly like some Elsebeth Lavold "Silky Wool" I just used for the first time. It has the same little slubs! It was VERY nice to work with -- I made the Shimmer shrug from Knitty.com. You can see pix on my blog if you're interested. I don't spin (yet?) but I love reading about the adventures of people who do!