I spent a lot of time at the spinning wheel today. I plied the four bobbins I spun this week. With the VERY FIRST one I learned an extremely valuable lesson about how to ply from a center pull ball without causing a huge, tangled mess. Then I spun the one remaining ounce of my first practice wool. Tomorrow: new wool.
Today's four skeins, drying to set the spin.
Yes, even on Friday night, I did my spinning practice for the day. I’ve finished the pretty teal wool, today’s picture. Now all my bobbins are full, so tomorrow will be plying day. And I’ll start some new practice roving. I have four more different types to go.
I’m much happier today with my skill spinning this roving. Not perfect, but much, much better.
Day 11. Still improving.
I spun more of the pretty blue/green roving tonight. Still not as even as I want – mistakes there for sure. But better than last night.
Yes, it’s still on the spinning wheel. I’ll do more tomorrow night.
Pretty blue - green yarn
Today I switched to some different roving. That is, wool ready-to-spin. This was some I bought last year, when I had dreams of learning to use a drop spindle. It’s quite different than what I’ve been using so far for practice. So there’s a learning curve, and the result has more mistakes than I’d like. But that’s ok. I will keep practicing.
It’s hard to tell in this picture, but it’s a pretty aqua color. It’s still on the spinning wheel in this picture.
Today I spun the thinnest and most even yarn yet. I’m really pleased.
Today in the kitchen was lower-key than some Sundays, which was nice. I did some experimenting, and fortunately all turned out well.
We got Bibb Lettuce in this week’s Pinckney’s box, and I wanted to do something with it besides salad (yawn). So I looked for recipes with cooked Bibb lettuce, and found one that was for carrots with braised Bibb lettuce. I decided to try just the braising part, and threw in the bok choy and the kohlrabi greens (also from the Pinckney’s box) as well. It turned out quite nicely.
I also wanted to try something different with the butternut squash I bought, so I cut it up and tossed it with chili powder and almond oil and roasted it. Yum!
I also roasted the actual kohlrabi that I took the greens from, with garlic powder and almond oil. I’ve made that before and it’s delicious.
For dinner tonight (and the rest of the week), I made Mexican casserole. You cook ground beef and mix in mushroom soup, sour cream, black beans, diced tomatoes, and chili powder, layer that mixture in a casserole with tortillas, top with cheese, and bake. We like it a lot, and I haven’t made it in a long time.
Today I plied the yarn I spun since Wednesday (which was the last time I plied). The proof of the yarn is in the plying. As it goes through my fingers onto the plying bobbin, I feel every bump, every unevenness. And as I expected, there was a big difference between the skeins from each of those days. Yes, each was a little better, more even, than the last.
Plied yarn from the spinning on Day 6.
Then I spun two more ounces of wool. I was very conscious of the evenness (and lack thereof) of the draft as I worked. This is good, because awareness and practice will get me where I want to be.
Until tomorrow.
Yarn spun on Day 7
Today’s spinning was fun. I had much better control over the amount of fiber going into the twist as I drafted, so the yarn was MUCH more even. Plus, I was able to keep the process going way more steadily, instead of having to stop frequently and fix something. This is two ounces of wool that I spun tonight, and on the second half I only had to stop two or three times. Very cool. Tomorrow when I ply everything I’ve spun since Wednesday it will be very interesting to measure the relative lengths of the final results.
Until then.
P.S., as a frame of reference, there is about 4 inches between the two ends of the bobbin.
Hooray for daily practice. I KNEW I needed to commit to that. Today I was able to relax more and focus on the “me” side of the pinch, if you will. I understand now how that’s the way to get more even drafting, and more even yarn size. As a result, today’s yarn is less “blobby” – the fat places are fewer and not as fat compared to the median size of the yarn. Nice.
Until tomorrow.
