365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Spinning My Wheels
Day 183: The pandemic has left me feeling as if I'm spinning my wheels. Oh, hang on a mo'...that's exactly what I've been doing. In addition to my other fiber-arts projects, I have not only been spinning woolon my 40-year old Louët, I've taken up the new sport of turning cotton into thread on a charkha. Not only did I finish up 42 ounces of "cinnamon twist" (white Corriedale plied with a cinnamon-coloured lamb's wool), I polished off a pound and a half of silver-grey Gotland over the last month. Now I have moved on to a lightly washed raw fleece I call "Honey-lamb" for its golden overtones. It was a gift from another spinner, and I've felt guilty about not getting to it before this. While I normally card my wool into batts and spin directly from them, Honey-lamb seems to want to be processed into rolags in order to achieve a smooth yarn, perhaps because it is a very long-staple fiber, measuring out at 5.5-6.0 inches on average. I spent last night and part of this morning filling my basket with rolags, wool which has been carded and formed into loose rolls. Tonight, I will spin up as many as time allows. And so it goes: card and spin, card and spin. Sometimes spinning your wheels is a good thing.
Labels:
carders,
honey-lamb,
rolags,
Shelby's fleece,
spinning wheel
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