Bad eyesight = more spinning

My eyesight isn't very good.  In fact, one eye is just awful.  So glasses are a must, and right now I find myself eyeglass-less.  (New ones broke, old ones were never quite right.)  So my usual 1-2 hours of reading before bed have become spinning time.  I dug through the big spinning basket and found a sample of Romney Top from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm.  It was just 2 oz. that I picked up somewhere. (Michigan Fiber Fest maybe?) 

This would not be my spinning fiber of choice simply because it is not all that soft.  But man, is it easy to spin!  I spun up about 1 oz. on my Golding spindle and it was a breeze.  It's a long wool with a nice crimp and the finished yarn has a very nice drape. 

Then on the wheel, I have been spinning some lovely soft stuff -- a Merino/Kid Mohair blend.  I picked up about 6 oz. of this at The Fold and have been spinning it in bits and pieces over the last few weeks.  Can you believe that this greyish-blueish tweedy color came from this:

Now this yarn is very soft and lovely, but I found that the Merino is not nearly as easy to spin as other wools I've tried.  I did enjoy spinning it though, and I think it was good practice.  Merino is short staple, smooth and slippery -- extremely different from the Romney!

The Joy of Handspinning which has so much info on spinning, has a page which talks about different breeds. 

And I know there is a book out there:

In Sheep's Clothing, which gives information on a staggering 100 breeds of sheep!  I didn't realize there were so many! 

Comments

[Rebekkah]

Wow, your yarn looks gorgeous! Seeing beautifully (and evenly!) spun yarn like that gives me hope that I may one day be convinced to learn to spin. I wouldn't do it unless I knew I could one day aspire to nice even yarn like that.

And the colors are gorgeous! What are you going to knit with it?

[Christie]

So preeeety!

[Norma]

I simply refuse to freakin' believe that you spun that on a spindle. Nope. Not believin'. It's too even and gorgeous. You bought it and just put a photo up. Fibber.

[michele]

that yarn is soooo pretty, now knit with it already!

[Lee Ann]

On a SPINDLE?

There's hope. Wow...how did you get soooo good? it's really lovely!

[Stephanie]

Awesome stuff and I have a hard time believing that yarn came from the roving you showed - doesn't seem possible. I may learn to spin one of these days (I got a spindle, but haven't tried it yet)

[--Deb]

At least your spinning is working, even if your eyes are being difficult. (That's like that Twilight Zone episode where the poor, old man breaks his glasses, surrounded by books. Horrors!) You're doing great, everything looks wonderful!