Snail Spirals

I've been doing a bit of spinning (now that I can actually see what I have in my closet!), and here's the product of about three hours' work last Wednesday.



Not a very impressively-filled bobbin, is it? But check this out-



This is 120 wraps-per-inch 100% tussah silk! I'd completely forgotten that I had this ball of silk roving in my fiber stash. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the take-up on my wheel to be gentle enough to spin this fine, but I think if I get a thinner brake band it might be better. I did switch over to the stretchy polycord drive band I had on my Ashford, and that helped some. I have a full pound of this roving, and this three hours' worth of spinning took a piece five inches long off the end, less than a tenth of an ounce.

I also warped the loom again yesterday, for another denim rug.



I have two and a half pounds of denim strips left from the first rug, which only took a pound and a half, so I made a four yard warp this time instead of a two yard one. I haven't decided yet if this warp will become two smaller rugs like I planned or one longer one. I used up all the blue rug warp in the first one, so this is green and white. I kind of like the way the green is interacting with the denim, and I wish there had been more on the spool so the green part could have been wider.

I did two things differently with this warp. First, I threaded it back-to-front, which I'd never done before. It went OK, but felt a little awkward still. I'll do another couple warps this way before I decide if I like it. It was nice, though, to have the cross secured on the lease sticks rather than in my hand, so I could walk away if I had to. Another thing I did differently on this rug was to double up the last two warp ends on each side, in both the heddles and the reed. I think this will give a stronger, more stable selvedge.