1) Oooh, thistles! ... I wonder if I can spin that.

2) Gather a good handful.

3) Observe the interesting feathery/ branching structure of the hairs.

4) Pick out all the seeds and the little "stem"-y bits in each bunch of hairs. They are still in bunches but these bunches fall apart readily.

5) Spin with no spindle, just seeing what happens. The fibres do, kind of, start to draft. The bunches don't fall apart readily enough, they try to cling onto the yarn as whole pieces - but mostly they try not to be involved at all. Despite the feathery structure, the fibres behave mostly like fibres that are slick and straight. The core is also relatively stiff so it doesn't want to be curled into yarn. Slick straight fibres I've been able to spin are very very soft and fine so they can lock around each other by twisting tightly; these fibres just don't, in the length avaliable.

I saw @nextgenfoals ‘ (mod charm’s) creation for a Zipporwhill/Sweetiebell pony, and I noticed how in their short description, it claimed they were good at finding lost things. Early Bird just so happens to be feeling very lost in her life, and I wanted to draw them together!!! I hope this is good enough, since I only had the one ref sheet to go off of.

(Also yes, I realize Thistledown’s streaks in their mane were supposed to be reflections of light, but I wanted to add a few more details to their mane, so I hope this is okay!!!)

Thistledown is by mod charm

with the wind scattering seeds,

troubling neat lawns,

offering treats for song birds

should a few lovely buds bloom.

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