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.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Making Punis From Roving
Day 162: Having discovered the joys of spinning cotton from punis, I will never go back to my old method of tearing off little bits of roving to pre-draft (i.e., stretch out and loosen the fibers). Instead, I'm making my own punis from the roving, using a cotton carder (one with fine, straight teeth) and my best blending board technique to prepare a small batt. I cover roughly a sixth of the carder with cotton, then carefully pinch the tips of the fibers between two knitting needles and pull the fibers through the carder teeth as I roll the needles, lifting the cotton slightly as I do so. Pulling too hard or rolling too tightly compacts the puni and makes it difficult to spin. Once the material is free of the carder, the knitting needles can be pulled out and the finished puni added to the box. One I have a boxful, I will begin spinning on the charkha wheel without having to worry about prepping another batch of fiber for several hours.
Labels:
cotton spinning,
punis
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