#wool batt

They come with some BFL on either side (probably as a barrier because trying to pull straight southdown off of carding cloth without it ripping to shreds is very difficult), which for all the other colorways I've bought from this shephard is great, but with this one it has kind of a candy cane effect once spun, which isn't what I'm going for.

Luckily it peels right off. There's some stray BFL but not enough to bother me.

I decided to just process all of the batts at once so that I don't have an extra step to cause executive function problems later.

Anyway here was the result. I was kind of worried when I saw how big the BFL pile was (basically the same size as the southdown !), but I weighed both and theres approximately 350 grams/12.5oz of southdown and 80 grams/2.75oz of BFL, so the BFL's volume is almost entirely air.

I'm thinking if I finish the southdown with time to spare (which I ought to), I'll blend something with the BFL and spin that next so that it doesn't take up tons of room in my storage. It has lots of flecks of red in it which should be an interesting effect, just have to figure out what to blend it with.

(And yes, this huge pillow of southdown batts was extremely satisfying to squish)

I got this exact Romney a year ago, but the booth sold it at a 50% discount and it felt too good to be true, so I only got a little in case it was moth infested or something. But no, completely fine wool, and I kicked myself for not cleaning her out. She had the same discounts so I got twice as much today.

Working on more spinning. This batt has more short stapled fibers and is not spinning up quite as well, but still enjoyable.

Here's the current fingertip splint situation lol. So a bandaid is better than nothing for sure, but its not enough to stop the joint from bending backwards. .. so... paperclip. Its very effective in keeping the joint in place but also hurts a surprising amount. So more thought needed, but definitely better fitting than the plastic finger splints are.

Started here (having blended 10 oz/280 g of various fibers, with help from chuck)

Currently here ! Halfway done, or thereabouts. 4 batts left to spin, and then ill have 2 plies done.

I started carding some shetland moorit fleece to see if that would be an acceptable 3rd ply. Still undecided; if i want to spin enough of this to equal the yardage of that huge bobbin I probably need to spin it on the espinner...but it has a lot of vm even when I spent ages picking it out while carding, and stopping/starting kinda sucks when your pedal is faulty, which mine seems to be. So, maybe.

Still looking for the dark brown merino combing waste that I think would be a perfect 3rd ply. Idk where else to check, but i guess ive got around a week to find it bc I still have to spin the rest of those batts.

I want to be done with this project so that I can start the next one, but ive got at least another 5 hours probably (finish this bobbin plus plying plus spinning whatever was leftover and didnt fit on the first 3 bobbins)... I keep catching myself imagining spinning the southdown batts xD

One day I will be free of this long, somewhat tedious project and then I can work on my brand new shiny long and somewhat tedious project. One day...

More cotton punis. I think I'm slowly understanding how it wants to be worked--quite differently from wool on hand cards--and the punis are getting both physically easier to make thanks to better economy of movement and also somewhat nicer, altho I'm still having a hard time judging when the cotton has actually been carded enough. I'm not sure why, it's typically pretty clear with wool. Anyway, I'm working on it.

Also spun up one of the batts I made earlier. To be plied later on my treadle wheel.

The 2 pounds of ginned cotton is supposed to arrive early (today !). Definitely want to see what it's like.

I think the punis are destined to be spun a lot thicker as a test, also on my wheel. Maybe on stream and maybe tonight but not sure.

2 big rolags pulled off the blending board (less fussy than pulling strips off a batt imo but also can be harder to spin...this batch definitely was harder). Both a blend of tussah silk, various scraps of wool (aiming for the soft stuff), and alpaca.

I used them to practice spinning on the espinner while laying down. Theres very few positions I can make it work in, but the bigger problem is actually that chuck does not realize she shouldn't stick her head/tail/paws in it while its on :( so I kept having to move it around as she moved around, which was not really what I was going for.

Anyway, did manage to spin both. I think i will 2 ply them. Theres a pretty big difference in both thickness and even-ness between the two, but ah well.

Here they are all spun up. I'll ply them later and just let them rest for now. Ive found that while I never needed to rest singles with my spindles or wheel, if i dont with my espinner there's just all kinds of tangles. I think it might be a difference with ability to tension the singles ? Idk.

Ive been thinking they'd make good fingerless gloves, but i kind of dont use those, I prefer both to make and to wear gloves and sometimes mittens. And i dont think i have enough for either of those. So it might just go in the handspun yarn horde.

Bonus chuck:

Doing some spinning on the espinner. Im still processing the jacob; I wrenched my shoulder picking up the world's biggest watermelon like an idiot, so I needed to take a break...made this batt out of some roving scraps (of which i have MANY, I will be making lots of batts hopefully). Not sure how I'll ply it...

I also have some onion skin dyed cotswold roving drying right now which im gonna spin into hopefully some sock yarn. Still drying tho.