Gotland Spinning

I am loving my wool combs! I bought the St. Blaise combs from Carolina Homespun at OFFF.

The Gotland is responding really well to them. The last few nights, I have been relaxing by combing out some fiber and winding it into nests, and then spinning most of it. :) The fiber that remains on the comb, and is not something like a second-cut or nep, I put into a plastic bag for later carding. Most of the fiber that ends up in the bag is a light silver color - I wonder if that is a down layer?

Spinning the combed fiber is awesome. It just floats through my hands.

Something I find interesting is that, even though I have a fair amount of twist in the Gotland singles, once they are on the bobbin, they still have a tendency to pull apart if I tug even remotely on them. I hope this won't happen when I am plying them.

I must say that the color is freaking gorgeous. I love it! I bet overdyeing it would be amazing, since most of the wool is dark grey, but there are flecks of lighter colors throughout - I can envision a lovely heathered yarn.

So I think I am going to make a 2 ply worsted-ish weight yarn with this fleece. I haven't really decided on any projects yet, but I am thinking a nice cabled hat or maybe mitts? The wool is fairly soft, but I can't tell if I am cheating because it is still somewhat greasy?

Oh well! It's still fun to spin! I highly recommend this breed! :)

The only downside to combing is that it is a very near threat to stab yourself. I've already done it once, and was lucky the large drop of blood didn't land in my wool. :)