Cotswold: Complete!

All the yarn, and the bag, I've made from my Cotswold

I finally finished my Cotswold! I had purchased a pound from a really nice little farm in Upstate New York, Nistock Farms. The purpose of this yarn was to learn to spin, but I had no idea how much a pound is.

Roving Dyed: Moss (All green) Yarn dyed: Grass (With Yellow)

 I spun it all on my big low whorl spindle, which I finally weighed and it's 5 ounces, no wonder I had trouble with fine spinning.  I was able to spun probably about 600 yards out of all of it, making an initial attempt that turned into a case for my Kindle, and then two skeins that were dyed post spinning and and two dyed as roving.

Roving Dyed: Indian Paintbrush

 The two dyed as roving were difficult as I learned that Cotswold felts extremely easily, making drafting a challenge, but I worked through and came up with some nice yarn.

The two dyed post spinning were much easier to spin, as they had not been fulled and the dying served to set the yarn. I think this is probably the approach I will take in most situations.  

Yarn Dyed: Berry Patch

I also predrafted my last four ounces of the undyed and found that to be an interesting experience. It was certainly easier to draft the second time, but I pulled the wool apart several times, even falling apart as I held it to spin, creating the need for more joins, and I didn't like the psychological effect of having so much additional length to spin, even if the length was considerably less dense. Maybe that is one of the things that would change when working on a wheel, or maybe I just need more practice...

The predrafted fiber is on top. It is clearly loftier, but I didn't particularly care for the changes it caused in my process.

Now that I have all this yarn that is really not ready to be next to anyone's skin, I am working it up to be a satchel type bag with the greens for the bottom, sides, and strap and the reds for the front and back. We'll see how it all works out!