Spinning from a roving

A few weeks ago I received a 98 gram roving through the post. I advertise my hand spinning service on a spinning website (scroll down to Sarah Lodge) and get more than enough work to keep me constantly busy.  It it so exciting to receive a new package of fleece through the post and anticipate how it will spin up.
With a roving, my first job is to undo the plait and split the roving in half by teasing the fibres rather than cutting them. All the work of carding has already been done, so spinning can commence straight away. You can split the roving into managable lengths and thickness, but I prefer just to keep it as a whole, coiled up on my knee, and get straight to work. You do have to keep the roving moving in your hand to draft fibres from the left, right and centre, but this is easily done and saves the time of splitting.

The roving is now being spun on my Ashford spinning wheel.

Fancy a closer look? Click on any of the photos and you can really get a close up look at the larger photograph.

I will spin the two halves of the roving onto separate bobbins and then ply them together to make a two ply yarn. I'll show you when it is finished. This will then be returned to the lady who sent it to me for spinning and she will, I'm sure, knit it up into something wonderful.