YST Episode 186

In this podcast, I talk about what I learned about cotton and spinning cotton in a class at SAFF this year.  I also had the chance to do some fiber and fleece shopping, and talk about that experience. I mentioned that I would list the four currently grown species of cotton plants and their details. Gossypium hirsutum  Known as upland cotton and native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Southern Florida.  This species accounts for 90% of commercial cotton grown. Gossypium barbadense  Known as extra-long staple cotton, and is native to South America.  This species accounts for 8% of all cotton grown. Gossypium arboreum  Known as tree cotton, it is native to India and Pakistan.  This species accounts for 2% of all commercial cotton grown. Gossypium herbacaum  Known as Levant cotton this species is native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and is the last percentage of the cotton grown world wide. Extra long staple cotton requires special ginning, known as roller gins. This type cotton can only be grown in a few places in the world, because it requires a long season and will not tolerate rain before harvest.  Currently California and Arizona are the two US areas growing this cotton.

A short podcast talking about the last five skeins in the yarn wash up, and my recent spinning. I mention fiber from a Phatt fiber box, they can be found here. The other fiber I have been spinning awhile is from Hobby Lobby.  I finally looked it up online and can provide a link.  I am spinning Yarn Bee Showstopper in the Winter Solstice colorway.  

After I spin a skein of yarn, it needs to be washed.  I put this off until I have enough to take several days of washing.   I also talk about doing a burn test on fiber to determine the fiber content.  One was a very big surprise!  The flow chart I was using for this burn test can be found here. My pack of luxury fibers contained white angora and it is shown on the Nano spinning wheel in the photo with this podcast.  The pack of fibers came from Sericin Silk Etsy store.

This podcast is for the week of Sept 5th, and talks about prepping cormo fiber for the dyepot, and spinning a merino silk bamboo blend. I also refer to two past podcasts so here are the links: Episode 38 talks about buying a fleece.  Episode 39 talks about buying non wool fibers and how to store all fibers.  Also the ghost story that I wrote is at the end of this episode. The fiber I was spinning was from Wooliebullie.  Right now the Etsy store is only selling art batts, and hand knitted items.

A catch up podcast talking about Stashdash, the state fair and a black and white Shetland fleece. Stashdash is a challenge created by the podcast TheKnitGirlls. The young spinner I mention in the state fair has grown up and now has her own fiber business at Cedar Ridge Fiber Farm. If you would like to see the daily streams I did during Tour de Fleece, they are archived here.  I am still uploading those, but all will be there soon.  My current streams can be found at Yarnspinnerstales on Twitch.TV

Just a brief note to fill those of you that haven't heard of my Mom's illness.  I have to stop the podcast for awhile, as I spend time with her.

A tiny but perfectly acceptable spinning wheel is being 3D printed by Dreaming Robots.   I have the smaller version called the Nano and I talk about it in this podcast.   I purchased it at the Hoosier Hill fiber fair at the booth for Susan's fiber shop. I referenced the book Big Book of Handspinning by Alden Amos.  This is just one source for the book.        

The podcasts will have a new format starting with this one.  The good news is they will be more frequent, and the maybe or maybe not bad news is they will be shorter. For years I have been using this podcast to teach many things about the spinning of yarn.  Those are available on the website by checking under archives.  There is even listings of the episode topics to find specific podcasts.  With the future podcasts, I will be sharing  my experiences and stories of working with fiber everyday.  These will be dated with the episode number but not about specific topics. I am still streaming three days a week on Twitch.tv   on Wednesday, Friday and Sundays.  I just completed streaming all 21 days of the Tour de Fleece and these can be found on my Twitch page under Yarnspinnerstales.  There is a lot of spinning there, and it is a good way to catch up on what I have been doing lately. Thank you for all the years you have joined me on this Journey! And as always, happy spinning.    

Podcasting for me is on the back burner at this time.  I plan to return with the Tour de Fleece in July 2021.

Last podcast of 2020 and maybe the last breed reviews I do for awhile.  It is time to move forward into other areas of spinning and the new year seems a good time to start. The breeds reviewed today are Llanowag and Lleyn.  The fiber was part of a Welsh breed study pack from Wychwood Spinners This podcast was created from the audio of a livestream I did when I reviewed these fibers.  It is different than my normal podcasting, but I think the addition of the actual sounds of processing and spinning is unique enough to be interesting. Happy New Year! and of course may it contain much spinning!