Cochineal Corriedale

With the beginning of May fast approaching, it occurred to me that it might be good to finish spinning some of the fiber that I had bought the May before. I actually have quite a bit of it still in un-spun form. Since I just finished spinning the un-dyed Corriedale that my mom and dad gave me for my birthday, I thought it would be a good time to finish spinning the cochineal dyed Corriedale that I bought from Handspun by Stefania, which was the first stuff I tried out right after I purchased my first drop spindles. Cochineal is a lovely natural dye that can create deep pinkish-red colors. The roving I picked appealed to me because it was a three color roving: a deep red-pink, an intermediate red-pink and a very pale pink, in vertical stripes (i.e. striped in the same direction the fiber is drafted). I spun some of it on my drop spindle, but after I met with better success spinning my Cormo/silk blend and some Blue Faced Leicester, I put the cochineal-dyed Corriedale away. I liked spinning fiber I didn't have to fight with so much.

After spinning the un-dyed Corriedale, I felt that I must not have given the cochineal dyed Corriedale a fair shake. So I pulled it back out and decided to see how it would spin up on my wheel. I like spinning it much better with the wheel, but It still felt much harsher to my fingers than the undyed Corriedale did. I believe that Claudia commented, when I first broguth this up) that there can be a lot of sheep-to-sheep variation when it comes to the texture and feel of Corriedale. Liz also mentioned that sometimes the chemicals and the handling that are used in the dyeing process can change the "hand" of the fiber. So I was curious what would happen after I finished plying and gave the yarn a little beauty bath in some warm water and Eucalan.

350 Yards of Cochineal Dyed Corriedale

The bath had a positive impact on the yarn. It definitely is a lot springier feeling after it's soak. But it doesn't really come close to the undyed Corriedal for sheer cushiness. It reminds me more of the Blue Faced Leicester that I have spun than it does the natural Corriedale.

Not So Neat Up Close

I didn't really spin this quite as well as I did the natural Corriedale. There's a great deal of variation in the diameter of the yarn. It probably ranges between sock weight and DK, though it averages close to a sport weight, I think. The close up shows that my spinning was a bit uneven. Some of this was because I found it difficult to consistently draft this roving. But I did learn something from spinning this fiber: it's very important to put enough twist into a single. This seems obvious, but it's very possible to put in enough twist so that the single will draw onto the bobbin, but not enough twist so that it will not pull apart when plying or when starting to spin again after joining new fiber. And when spinning fine singles, it's a pretty fine line between a nice soft single and something with the hand of garden twine.

What's next up on my wheel? I'm thinking it's time for something a little softer on my fingers. Maybe that blue/green Cormo/silk that I thought I was going to spin up on my drop spindle? Hmmm.....