Plant to Yarn

Spinning cotton is undoubtedly a challenge. It might have been wiser for me to wait until I was a better spinner before starting, but of course I didn't realize how difficult it could be. Roving is roving, right?

Wrong. Cotton has such an incredibly short staple, basically my only choice was the park-and-draft method, where you put the spindle between your knees and draft out a little wool and then twirl it around to add some twist to the yarn. Cotton's liability to snap when you don't want it to is great. Just when you've got a good, long, pretty even strand of yarn, you feel the slight tug of fibers slipping apart, and the next thing you know, despite your frantic attempts to add some twist to the yarn to keep it from breaking, you've lost a yard of yarn and are faced with the challenge of joining another piece of cotton. It's difficult and frustrating, especially when it happens again and again without fail.

Cotton is a lot of fun to spin, but it can be SO frustrating! Which is why i took it off the spindle and put it on the niddy noddy. I counted 83 yards of uneven cotton yarn, and was pretty happy with it. The next time I try spinning cotton, I'll try and do it a little thicker. And maybe a little more even...