Cotton on the Minstrel

I have been wanting to try this experiment for some time, but a couple of wool projects kept the Minstrel occupied. My old spinning wheel (a Louët S10) is a "slow" wheel, i.e., the ratio between the whorls is on the low side (1:5.5-1:7.5). Since cotton requires a lot of twist, it really needs to be spun with a higher ratio and very light tension. The Minstrel allows for four ratios, and from what I'd read, 1:12 was the general recommendation. That meant changing from the standard whorl to the high-speed whorl, and I wasn't sure I could effect that with a cotton drive belt using double-drive. I really didn't want to have to change drive belts (that's a major operation!), but a quick test between skeins of wool showed that it wasn't necessary. After finishing up the "Charm" project (a blue slubby wool), I decided to give cotton a try. My first attempt (above) is a little irregular, but not so much as will matter once it's plied. I found that with punis (mini rolags), using a very short forward draw works better for me than long draw. The advantage to being able to spin cotton on a "standard" spinning wheel (as opposed to a charkha/tahklis) is that I can load the bobbin with a significantly greater length of finished thread...enough, in fact, that I'll be able to use it for weaving.