From Roving to Yarn

I went ahead an spun up two spindles full of the roving. I remembered to draft the roving first, which made the process go pretty quickly. The yarn varied in thickness depending on how much roving was pulled off the original mass. I suppose that as you get better at this, you pull off pieces of roving that are similar in size, and thus your yarn doesn't have such variation.

Here is what I got. After I had two spindles full, I decided to go ahead and ply it together. It was getting late, and I made a terrible mistake. I plied it the wrong way, ie. I used the same spin as when I was spinning it - clockwise. Luckily, I remembered pretty quickly, unwound, and then starting plying in the right direction.

It is super bulky and the colors are dreamy shades of blue, green, lavendar & gold. Not bad for my first try at dying & spinning!

Dying Roving

There have been a few changes in the evolution of my addiction to all things fiber.

1. I learned how to SPIN. New worlds have opened up for me! I can spin on my mom's Ashford Joy. And, she lent me her drop spindle to play with!
2. I bought some angora and spun it up with some cashmere for a lovely scarf. I used the drop spindle. It is wonderful (pictures to come)
3. I dyed and spun up my first batch of roving. Here are the pics of the dying process:

Roving is dyed and wrapped.

Ready for the microwave steam method.

Rinsing after the steaming. I was worried that I felted the roving at this stage.

Hanging to dry. It is hard to see the colors, but they definitely lightened up a bit.

I am spinning up the yarn now.