Easy, Breezy

I am so enjoying my current spin. It is just about effortless because I am spinning supported long draw, which means that I essentially let the twist that the wheel is putting into the fiber create the single as I pull the fiber supply away from it. My usual style of spinning is short forward draw, which is pretty much the ideal style of spinning for someone who is a control freak: The spinner controls exactly how many fibers are twisted together and the twist stays out of the fiber supply. The resulting yarn is very smooth and (if you've done it right) very consistent -- and that's in stark contrast to what I'm spinning now, which is more light and airy and less consistent. But sometimes you want yarn like that, and for this fiber, I want a cloud-like finish.

I plan to ply this back on itself for what I hope will be a light fingering weight two ply. I think I'm a bit more than halfway done with the singles; I didn't get as much done as I hoped because I skipped my Friday night spinning session in favor of knitting (which I'd planned to do after donating blood because it would be less taxing, but I ended up not being able to donate after all because my hemoglobin was a bit low). Long draw is, however, much faster than short forward draw, so I think if I can get in one more good spinning session during the week, I'll be able to finish up the last of the singles.

Meanwhile, my latest shipment from the Southern Cross Fibre club arrived mid-week, and I'm not sure yet if I like it or not.

I love the blue, the wine, and that dark brown, but I'm less into to the yellowy middle browns. I'm sure spun up this would look completely different, so I'll likely wait and see how others spin it up before I decide to keep it or destash. This is one thing I really enjoy about being in a fiber club -- there's always inspiration to be had!