Just enough time for a quickie

I finished my last spinning project just as the next Sheepspot Fiber Club shipment left Sasha in Toronto, but I thought I might be able to squeeze in another one befpre it arrived. And I did! This started as a batt from Into the Whirled. It is Falkland and it looked like this when I brought it home from MDSW last May:

It turns out that Falkland isn’t really a breed – it just means the sheep lived on the Falkland Islands. So this might be Polwarth (which is 75% Merino 25% Lincoln) or pure Merino… or even Corriedale or Romney (source: Robson & Ekarius’ The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook).

When I opened it up, this is how it looked:

I started spinning at the red end…

…and finished at the blue end:

I spun it longdraw on my 14:1 whorl, all on one bobbin. Then I chain-plied it and got this:

That was fun. The 4 oz batt spun like butter and I finished the entire project in under a week. This will definitely motivate me to visit the Into the Whirled booth at MDSW next month. (OMG it’s only a month away!!!)

And right on cue, yesterday this arrived in the mail:

This is Perendale roving. Perendale is a longwool breed created by a Cheviot/Romney cross. According to TF&FS, it is a bouncy wool that doesn’t really behave like the English longwools. We’ll see how it spins up. Mine is the braid on the left… Caitlin’s is on the right. We also got a handmade ceramic diz in this shipment! I don’t have a diz, so this is a nice addition to my toolkit. (I may have to consider buying some wool combs at MDSW this May…)

Speaking of MDSW… I got into a class with Judith MacKenzie called Drafting Techniques to Make the Yarn You Want. Here’s the description:

As a spinner, your most important, versatile tools are your own skilled hands. With those eight fingers and two opposable thumbs, plus a half-dozen simple techniques for manipulating the fiber supply, you can spin a full suite of yarn styles. You will learn how to spin with the following draws: Worsted, Semi-worsted, Woolen, Semi-woolen, Slub, and Boucle. You’ll begin by seeing the unlikely possibility of spinning the six different yarns styles with a single fiber preparation. Skill level: Ability to independently spin singles and make a two-ply yarn. Students should bring: Working spinning wheel and all its parts, lazy kate, extra bobbins.

I’ve never taken a class with Judith, but I’ve heard her speak (it’s totally worth it) and I’ve only heard amazing things about her classes. I can’t wait to see what tips I pick up. The class is all day Friday… then I can hit the festival on Saturday and/or Sunday. Boy 2 really wants to go again this year. He has to check on the angora bunnies he met last year. I’m not sure yet if I’ll bring him on the day I go with the knitters, or on the other day.