My first full bobbin from the Ashford!
It’s far more even than the pink Merino, which is also in production.
This is what is going back on the wheel, the Shetland/Manx/Corriedale. (From now on, I think I will refer to this fleece as the SMC.)
I need to spin a bit more of this SMC, to ply up with the bobbin that I spun on the Haldane. That will free up a spare bobbin so that I can spin another Cheviot up, and then ply both Cheviot together. Then it will be back to the pink Merino to finish that bobbin.
At the same time, I am continuing to work on my socks, and I also need to continue with the Clapotis. I still haven’t decided finally whether or not to rip it out and start again.
I should also be making one or several books before the craft exhibition comes around on the 19th of August. The socks are for the third of August; it isn’t going to happen, but I will keep on trying - and I am now so happy (and quick) with the Cheviot that I may even enter a skein of it in the show on the third! This is entirely in the “making up the numbers” mode, not in any hope of prizes. Maybe next year 
Looking at the SMC, it is interesting to note how much thinner the single is than the Cheviot, and that in turn is finer than the Merino. I clearly need a lot more practice in handling the more slippery fibre.
I need to update my WIP panel on this blog. But maybe not today. I seem to have Spinning Wheel Compulsion. Just one more go, please!
Similar woolgatherings:
- Novelty yarn
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- WIPS
- What, over already?
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natalie | 26-Jul-07 at 1:19 pm | Permalink
Remember that the merino was done several days ago, and your skill has improved over that time. I found quite a difference between the beginning of the bobbin and the end of it, even though I have done quite a bit of spinning before.
There is much truth in the “little and often” saying when it comes to spinning.
I certainly found it wasn’t a smooth learning curve, it was more like a staircase, I would spin and then leave it for a day, and then when I went back to it, you could clearly see the point where I stopped, and the point where I started it…. was an obvious change on the bobbin. It was an incremental step, not a curve.
I think it’s a bit like struggling with algebra, one day the penny just drops and you can do it. With spinning, there are many such penny dropping moments… several for each new fibre.
It’s looking great though and you are quite right to submit a skein…. so many are put off because they wait for the perfect yarn, and every yarn has its own idiosyncracies which the judges may just fall in love with.
Carole | 26-Jul-07 at 1:52 pm | Permalink
I am simply in awe at your progress. That’s a beautiful looking yarn you’ve just spun.
Me | 26-Jul-07 at 2:35 pm | Permalink
Ah, but you should see what I just plied.
Ooh, look, Mum - I made STRING!
LOL
I’m in awe of my progress too. Like Natalie, I believe it goes in step changes, rather than a smooth progression.
OTOH, the penny never did drop where Algebra is concerned. Numbers belong in maths, letters belong in books.
Claire UK | 26-Jul-07 at 2:49 pm | Permalink
I am finding your progress inspiring. I have only just got to feel secure enough with my spindle to take it to my spinning guild and spin in front of the ‘experts’ there - let alone contemplating actually spinning ‘real yarn’ on my wheel when it arrives.
I think your yarn is just beautiful. It is fine and even and I am awed at the progress you have made in such a short time.