The learning curve is going up

When I first acquired my spinning wheel (a whole week and a half ago...wow, feels like a lot more!) I had the impression that the transition from drop spindle to wheel would be fraught with challenges.

I'd heard some of this from other drop spindlers—the wheel just yanks the wool away from you; you have to draft like a maniac just to keep up; it's hard to get a steady treadle rhythm going; and on and on.

I have to say, though, that adding the wheel to my spinning toolkit has really not been that difficult. Yes, I did have to learn to treadle in one direction at a time (my first efforts were really kind of spastic); but rather than being intimidated by the wheel's ability to both spin yarn and collect the proceeds on the bobbin, I've found it liberating.

And then there's the whole speed factor. I still believe that the drop spindle is the ideal take-anywhere, spin-anytime tool, and that it's possible to accumulate quite a respectable cop of yarn in a fairly short time, just by popping the spindle in your bag and pulling it out during the lulls in your day.

But for sheer plow-through-a-pile-of-fibre speed, the wheel is definitely where it's at. It's more hassle to set up (especially when you live with Ralph the Demon Seed, who seems to believe there is no string anywhere that does not belong to him, and doesn't seem to grasp the idea that kitties aren't supposed to actually eat spinning wheel drive bands); and it takes a firm intention to sit and spin for a while, but the reward is a lovely pile of spun and plied yarn in a rather short time.
In Friday's post, I showed you some Turtlepurl alpaca/bamboo roving that I was spinning into a singles; here's the result of the first four ounces of that endeavour:
It's truly beautiful stuff, with a soft sheen and beautiful drape; a bit on the challenging side to spin straight away, so I've been fluffing it up to make it easier to draft. I'd initially thought I'd approach this from the fold, but the fluffed version works perfectly fine with my standard short-draw. I spin the singles on a fairly high ratio, using double drive; then I ply on the lowest ratio, which necessitates some vigorous treadling but helps me pack more onto the bobbin.Looking at this, I can see places where I wish I'd plied a bit more firmly, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I'd put this somewhere around a fingering weight, and by the time I'm done I hope to have enough for a respectable lace shawl.

Which raises a whole other question: which shawl? There are so many to choose from...

(cue suspenseful music)