Spinning yarn over Christmas break

I'm glad that I splurged on a folding travel wheel with my Louet Victoria. I spent most of my free time over Christmas break spinning yarn. I finished up the targhee gray/orange/yellow top, which I named "matchstick."

The top unbraided.

First single.

Finished three ply!

Practiced chain plying with a leftover single. That is HARD.

When I was doing the third section, I spun it from the wrong end. I coerced my dad into holding an empty bobbin on a skewer while I spun it by hand and guided the single onto it. Time to order some Bobbins Up storage bobbins that you can wind on a power drill.

Transferring a bobbin by hand.

I received two braids of merino/silk top by Greenwood Fiberworks, my favorite source for roving. I had picked these out while my mom and I were at Lambtown in October, and she bought them and then took them away to be put under the Christmas tree. I told her that I would probably forget about it in the meantime, and yup, I was surprised to see them again!

I immediately started spinning the green/red/yellow one (the label was missing, but I'm calling it "spring"). I forgot to take a picture of the braid, but here it is spread out horizontally to unsmush it..

I decided to spin this top end to end and then chain ply it to preserve the color changes. Here's the first part.

I decided to do less thorough pre-drafting lengthwise before spinning, to challenge myself to learn to pull out the right amount from the top. Last time I was at a spinning circle, another person was spinning straight from her braid with no pre-drafting and I was impressed. However I made the mistake of leaving the wheel set on the highest speed ratio (13:1), and my hands were slower so it's way overspun. On the bright side, that's easy to fix by running it back through the wheel in the opposite direction at 6:1. It's also going to be sitting on that bobbin and relaxing for a while before I finish it.

The 50% silk content makes it so shiny and the colors are gorgeous. I was practically drooling as I worked on it.

The other braid's colorway was labeled as "crocus."