In the beginning, every draw was hit or miss, mostly miss. Stage two for me was realizing the difference in my left hand when drawing versus my right hand (I'm right handed). In my right hand I'm confident in my ability to manipulate the fibers, almost as if I knew where each fiber was and where they were headed (of course I don't really know where each fiber is, but there is an awareness of what's slipping where). I could tell when to stop, where to put pressure, when to release pressure, when to hold back. In my left hand, no such thing. It feels like holding a clump of wool in the hope that some will draw out in a way which makes a suitable thread.
This realization was important because I started to focus on the palm of my left hand in an attempt to gain a sense of control. This is one moment in life when my spinning challenges mesh with the piano challenges: I've been doing a lot of left hand work at the piano.
This stage saw some improvement, at least it seemed that way. No, really, there was. A bit anyway. Then I decided to turn my focus to carding, with the thought that a really good preparation would make drafting more fluid. Sadly, it seemed to not make much difference! It's clear I need a few hands-on lessons in carding and drafting long draw.
One month in (approximately) I can honestly say I'm learning and improving, but there's a way still to go. The fact that my great wheel wobbles in every joint, but also where it's not really conceivable (well, it seems that way) doesn't make it any easier. I have discovered things about the minor's head that have helped stabilize it, but the wheel still likes to throw it's band. So I'm going to jerry rig some low barriers around the wheel to keep it from slipping off. Not sure what product I will use but it will be something non permanent.
At any rate, at the end of the day I have managed to spin 185 yards of 2 ply yarn and I love it. It's soft and lofty, and I really like how the colors are turning out. You may remember I'm combining a grey wool/bombyx/apalca blend with a multi-colored merino. A short length of grey followed by a short length of colored merino to make the singles, and then plying them to make yarn. It is far from even yarn, so I will call it 'art' yarn. It's certainly useable. (The pictures look better when enlarged, simply click on them.) The singles on the swift:
After plying:
It's not wet finished yet and I may leave a good soak until after it's knitted up. I plied it balanced so there's no excessive twist, hence it doesn't need a warm, relaxing bath.
The difference between the color of the merino top and the finished yarn can be appreciated in this picture. I've wound the skeins into balls: (ignore the white/purple/orange skein, that was previous spinnning.)
I think I'm going to make fingerless gloves with this yarn so I can appreciate it's soft squishiness every time I wear them. To that end, I knitted a swatch to check gauge and to see how the color would knit up. I like it.:
This swatch didn't meet gauge so I knitted up another in needles one size smaller. It's better and I'm going with it. I may make pattern adjustments to fit my hand anyway.
This video shows what I aspire to. Can you image how much yardage you could spin up in an afternoon!?
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