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I am enjoying spinning as much as I hoped I would. It has the same meditative, peaceful qualities I used to enjoy when I did wheel-thrown pottery. The Schacht is running smoothly and beautifully. I am very, very happy with this purchase.

My first yarn off the wheel was, as predicted, lumpy and ugly. Ironically, the first bobbin was much less lumpy and ugly. I have a reason for this, but it will doubtless cause the old adage to be rained down on my head: "It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools." When I ordered the wheel, I ordered various quantities of (mostly) beginner fiber (what caused me to purchase some black merino in this batch? Temporary loss of judgment? Total insanity? We shall not dwell.). The largest batch was a half-pound of Coopworth. The first bobbin of this was nice - fuzzy and slightly rough, but perfect for the beginner spinner because of its fuzzy roughness. I mostly overspun the hell out of it, but it's inexpensive practice fiber, purchased for making just such rookie mistakes.

In the second bobbin, I ran into some, er... lesser-quality fiber. It often resembled dryer lint more than honest sheep's wool: uneven patches (in odd thicknesses that created weird dips and turns, which made stripping and pre-drafting very frustrating) and second cuts, contributing to a bobbin of singles that gave new meaning to the terms "lumpy and ugly." I redubbed this portion of the fiber "Crapworth," and soldiered on with it for a bit too long before I cut my losses and threw out part of the batt.

I plied bobbin #1 and bobbin #2 together, Coopworth and Crapworth, and here they are:

First Yarn off of new wheel

Bobbins 3 and 4 are 100% Coopworth, no Crapworth at all. They're in the bathroom, drying, and look a lot less like ass and a lot more like yarn. Even John noticed the improvement. Today's lesson? Just say "no" to Crapworth.
Posted: Monday - September 04, 2006 at 11:06 AM         | |

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