I have handspun yarn!

Saturday the glorious spindle arrived. By midnight I had my first ball of yarn! :) I ended up spinning all day long. I was so excited that I just wanted to get a finished product. As a result I think it could have been better. I'm shocked at how consistent I was able to get though. My singles weren't so great but when I plyed them I got a pretty good balance going. At least I think so. :)


Here's the whole skein. I didn't use the whole ball of roving so the skein is not complete. I ended up putting my singles on two different bobbins so plying would be easier. Since I wasn't sure how much was on the first bobbin I had to guess. I was very close. I only had a short amount left on the first bobbin and I used that to tie it off. I'm going to use the rest of the roving and ply it with some white I think.






Here's a close up of the actual yarn. You can see how uneven my singles are in it. But like I said I was so excited...I just had to get something done. :)

This roving is super easy and smooth on my fingers. There is a huge difference between this stuff (Cotswold) and the random fleece I got off Freecycle. The fleece is harder to draft but that could be because it hasn't been combed or anything. I'm hoping to get some brushes to see if that will work. I don't know if I like the roving that came with the kit though. It's very hairy. I don't know if all roving is like this since my fleece doesn't do it. But like I pointed out the fleece isn't combed or anything. I was hoping that it was just because this is my first time but the stuff I'm spinning now is doing the same. I hope it's just the type of wool that makes it do it.

I've got some more on the spindle now and it's going soooo much smoother. I think I've got it figured out pretty much. At least the spinning portion. I know I still need to get the hang of drafting but until then I'll just use thiner strips of roving. I read a blog this morning and the post was about some yarn she had spun on her wheel. Oh man I want one! It looks so smooth and nice and fluid!!!! I want to try one so bad. Maybe I'll talk the husband into renting one for me for our anniversary. I would love to just try one. I do like the fact that i can walk around with my drop spindle though. That's nice. I can see it becoming a habit when insomnia hits. :)

I'm part of a Magic Yarn ball swap and I think I'm going to use my spindle. I have some perfect roving for this mama and I think it would be absolutely perfect to use it. :)