Lazy Days of Summer
(Almost) nothing happened today. We slept in and then I spent the afternoon working on my spinning challenges.
Le Tour de Fleece: Bekki is up and running! She's the Ashford Traveler I bought at a flea market. I put on an orchid poly drive belt from Spinning Bunny 
and oiled everything that moved. It took almost an hour to get the tension set right and spinning with a single treadle, rather than the double treadle Lendrum I normally use, was harder than I expected. I spun for an hour using some BFL that came with a spindle from Copper Moose. I'm pretty happy with how even the singles are; still a little too thick, but they will slim down with practice.
Tomorrow I'll start spinning with my challenge roving.
Summer Spinning Challenge: I spent just over an hour spinning Grover's picked wool. The color in the top photo is the most accurate - so many different shades of gray and silver. It really is a beautiful fleece. 
The color is off in the second photo, but I like how it shows the singles. I'm pleased with how this is spinning up. 
But I have a question for those of you who have used a picker - can I spin directly from the picked fiber or should I card it into roving first? This was spun from the picked fiber. I was a little disappointed in how many neps were in the wool. Is this to be expected or am I doing something wrong? Thanks for any help!
2 comments:
Well with all my "days" of experience, I can tell you I do know you can spin directly from the picked fiber. Susie was telling us that about the Fleece we all went in on.
I have a question for you - What is Grover? It is GORGEOUS!!!
Grover is a 7.5 pound Lincoln-Columbia cross that I bought from Hayshed
Basin Ranch while I was at the Northern California Handweavers
Guild conference. You should see Lulu - that one is even prettier!
Post a Comment