Spinning progress

This week we learned to spin 3 ply yarn. Half the class found it easier to do 3 plies, while the others (including me) preferred 2 ply.

I've gotten good at spinning thin yarn using the cheap wool roving. Usually it looks like sport weight yarn but sometimes it's approaching lace weight!

At the end of class we were given 6 bags with small amounts of various kinds of roving, labeled cashmere tussah, angora/lambswool, alpaca (!), afghan, another tussah silk, and merino.

The long, soft tussahs were hard to spin with! They got easily tangled in my support hand, and the yarn kept breaking when I would try to spin it thin and the fibers slipped apart.

The merino, which is probably what we've been spinning on, was easiest to work with. It held together well and was easy to make into lace weight yarn. The angora/lambswool was similar.

The afghan was my favorite. It had a very short staple length - about 1.5". But it also held together well.

The alpaca (huacaya) felt rougher than I expected in my hand. It got a bit tangled as I was working it, but otherwise was fine.