Spinning from Roving

I decided to put my teasing and carding of raw fleece aside for the moment and try spinning from a prepared dyed roving and what a difference!

Pictured below from left to right:

Pencil, 3ply, 2ply, loftier 2ply, drafted roving

So for a newby like me to get finer consistant yarns, consistant finely drafted roving is almost vital. So there you go newbies like me... you CAN do it.

When the roving is drafted out this fine, it practically spins itself - no kidding! I don't even know what weights these would be. The loftier 2ply is about a baby weight and is spun at about 7 twists per inch. This means I treadle twice for each 2 1/2 inch section on my wheel that works at 6 1/2 twists per wheel revolution. I hope that makes sense. The higher twist 2ply is obviously finer than the baby weight

Sorry I used black to illustrate this, but it's what I had. :D

Doin' the happy dance..... de de de deeee

Ashford Traditional spinning wheel

My spinning wheel is finally here - YAY!!!!!




It seemed none the worse for wear after being stored for these long months while we moved. I oiled it and started it up. I believe it's an Ashford Traditional wheel but I'm not sure since I bought it used and it has no markings or labels of any kind.

I do have one small problem though.
















See the nut and bolt from the footman rod to the hub bar? As I spin, this tightens and makes it harder to treadle. I loosen it by hand every few minutes and that really shouldn't be a big deal, but it's beginning to bug me.

Has anyone seen this problem before and know how to fix it? I might get my DH to file off the threads on part of the bolt... the inside of the hub bar is threaded but I don't think the bolts threads should be that long. I think just the end of the bolt should be threaded to hold on the nut... right?

Oh I feel bad about complaining I'm so happy to finally be able to start spinning - you have no idea! :D

I find using the wheel soooo much easier too. I felt very clumsy using the hand spindle and couldn't get past the 'park'n draft' method so it was really slow. The spinning wheel feels comfortable and I don't need to stop and start so it's a lot smoother. (except to loosen the hub bolt) So my yarn is coming out a lot smoother and I'm absolutely thrilled!!!

I'm practicing happily and I don't think it'll take too long before my consistency is better [I hope] , my thin/thick parts don't seem too bad at all any more. I'm just going to keep practicing, I don't even want to think about the plying yet - that scares me. Hopefully I'll find some local help to learn how to do that properly.