Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cotton Spinning Update

By Leigh

This is how I kept my hands busy while watching the Olympics -

Cotton lint red #1
Cotton lint red #2
Cotton lint orange #1
Cotton lint orange #2
Cotton lint yellow
Spinning cotton lint . These are from my experiments for the Online Guild's recent "Dyeing Vegetable Fibers Challenge" last June.

I'm spinning the approximately 100 gram amounts long draw. So far I've completed two reds and one orange. I'm ready to ply the second orange and then start on the yellow. That leaves me several greens, blues, and purples left to go. Progress is slow and won't be very steady, but I'm enjoying it just the same.


Related Posts:
Summary of Procion MX Dye Experiments
Spinning Cotton Lint
More On Spinning Cotton

10 comments:

Tina T-P said...

So do you card it into rolags (or however you spell that) before you spin it. Is it really soft? What are you going to make with it? Huh, huh, huh? (lol) :-) T.

bspinner said...

I admire anyone who dyes and spins cotton. You sure did get a lot accomplished while watching the Olympics. Love the colors!! Along with Tina's questions I'd like to know how strong the yarn is.

Anonymous said...

It looks lovely.

How are you finding spinning long draw? For me, it was a pretty fast method, but I am not always able to set the tension right on my wheel to do it properly.

Leigh said...

Tina, yes I'm handcarding it into those little mini-rolags, poonis. I have a photo description at this post. You're right, it is very soft! At this point, I'm thinking about weaving something with it (I never weave with my handspun.) I may change my mind by the time I finish spinning it all however.

Barb, the 2-ply seems to be pretty strong. With the first skein (top one) I had problems with my singles. Some of them broke during plying. I added twist for the second skein, and it has held together since then. I do believe it will be strong enough to use as warp.

Patrick, I love spinning long draw. I agree that it's faster. My problem is that it tends to be slubbier than short draw. Of course, for this cotton, my preparation isn't perfectly smooth, so I'd have some slubs no matter how I spun it.

Dorothy said...

Hi Leigh, I'm impressed by your cotton spinning. I took a one day cotton spinning course in the spring, but haven't practised since, you photos encourage me to have another go.

Julie said...

I haven't spun cotton yet, must try. Your spinning looks great!!!

Kathy said...

I'm just speechless!

(We're not worthy, we're not worthy...)

Sharon said...

I agree with Kathy. I've never seen anything like your cotton yarns. What plans to you have for them? My mind is a complete blank - so outside of any experience I've had.

Cathy said...

As usual - lovely lovely spinning. You are always upping the ante!!

Interesting about the stolen blog posts...

I'm reading but not always able to comment (dial-up? who knows)

Anonymous said...

Y U M M Y !!!

Jane