Roving and Top: Gray and Blue

Maybe it is the return of warmer weather, but I have been on a spinning kick recently. Very little knitting getting done, but plenty of spinning. Along with the  project on my spindle that I showed you last week, I have also started an easy project on my Ashford wheel.

My newest project: thick merino. (The colors are totally off though)

Last year I bought some dyed merino top at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. It was an incredibly good price, and it's one of those fibers that you have to use at least sometimes: super-duper soft and fluffy, great for garments. However, because it is so fine, it doesn't wear very well, or so I have heard.

The history of merino sheep is actually pretty neat. In the 18th and early 19th Centuries, all merinos were owned by the Spanish crown. To sell a sheep to anyone else was considered treason and the punishment was death. In the 19th Century, they gradually loosened the restrictions, and they are pretty ubiquitous today.

I haven't decided what I am going to do with this yarn yet, but it is going to be a thick two ply yarn, with one skein of blue and one of black.

Merino top from Delly's Delights Farm in Louisa, VA. This is closer to what the color actually looks like

Same as above, in black.

In other fiber news, I learned a useful skill.

Because I might be teaching more spinning in the future, I decided to get some ugly, cheap "learning" wool that I can give to students. I got two pounds of this:

4 oz. of "domestic gray wool" roving from The Woolery.

I didn't want white wool, because it is hard to see the twist, so I think this gray stuff is just about perfect. Has some neps (little bits of broken fiber) and is a bit dirty (with a very "sheepy" smell). But t is quite soft, and the color is nice, if boring.

The main question was how to store all of that wool. It came in bags, but just stuffed in there - recipe for tangles.

Some of it I wound into balls, just like I would do with yarn.

4 oz. roving ball (and Sandy, looking for attention)

But I had also seen roving braided, and wanted to try. It looks better than the ball, gets more air, and I think is a bit more compact.

The first thing to know about the braiding is that it isn't a brain, it is a crochet chain. That means that if you want to get the wool, you just have to tug, and it will come undone. The second thing to know is that I am pretty sure the other braids I have seen were only two ounces, because my braid was something like 6 feet long. It think I got the hang of it though.

What do you think?

"braid" of roving: closeup.