Merino
Merino/Jacob/Alpaca/Silk/Bamboo
I also attended my first St. Distaff Day. Along with 200 other spinners. It was packed!
I started out trying to spin my Batt of Beast I got in November. This was tricky to spin and I just wasn't up for the challenge.
The batt is not very thoroughly blended so every time I got to down fiber section (yak, cashmere, camel)it would fall apart because the down fibers need more twist. I also didn't have my wheel adjusted properly and was trying to spin the finest thread I could. It became too frustrating so I moved on to Rose, the Corriedale fleece I got earlier this year. I've only combed a small part of the fleece but realized that I should probably just start spinning it now and can comb the rest as I go. It's been in a plastic bin for months and when I pulled it out I realized that I had not scoured the fleece very well. It was stiff and slightly tacky. It wasn't too hard to spin but I did want to wash a small sample when I got home. I made a two foot sample of a 2 and a 3-ply. I put them in a cup with some very hot water and some Dawn dish soap. The water immediately changed from clear to murky gray. Ewww. I really did not get this fleece very clean. Oh well. I'll spin it up then wash the skeins in the hottest water I can get.
