FO: Further adventures in spinning

So I had a breakthrough in my spinning adventures, and I can say with confidence that the big trick for me (and probably for others, but I was just so happy to discover it for myself) is vigorous predrafting.  I stretch the roving all to heck and roll it up in squishy blobs, then pull off smaller-than-I-think-they-should-be sections for actual drafting and spinning.  This makes for a lot more joins, which I suppose is good practice, and it allows me to spin a much finer single. 

Above you'll see the fiber blob.  Add in a Latin grammar workbook, and it leads to this, a spindle full of singles I can really be proud of!

A few of the sections are still iffy, but overall things seem more regular and the product is definitely more finely spun.  So I finished up the rest of my dyed roving and decided that I could trust myself not to utterly destroy any of the pound (a whole pound! My goodness gracious!) of undyed wool top that I'd been saving. For five years. It was finally time.... Understandably, I took a ton of photos.
First, singles on the spindle and the hulking fiber monster in the background. It does not seem to get smaller as time goes on, which is glorious. I can't wait to have just piles of creamy yarn.

You'll notice that the Latin book is no longer in sight. I gave up pretending that I was paying any attention to it. Next, two equally sized balls of wound singles (I have no idea how I actually managed to make them even, since each was spun on a different day and I did nothing to measure out the amount of fiber I used. Beginner's luck, for sure), isolated and ready for plying.

Post plying, real live 2-ply yarn hanging out on the niddy noddy. I'm so proud! Also so sweaty from yesterday's awful humidity. But no matter.

Off the niddy noddy and hanging up post soak, with a handy bottle of bathroom cleaner hanging on for the necessary weight that will help set the twist.

And look - two whole mini skeins of yarn, made by me and looking relatively normal!

There is plenty of yardage for a hat, and you know everything else on the needles is going to sit there and wait until I get this made :)
Spinning goes so quickly, especially compared to knitting with small yarn on little needles. I'd almost compare it to the sewing vs. knitting differential.  The great part of this, though, is that finishing up skeins of yarn at a fast pace can really only lead to more knitting, and therefore the two crafts are not in a fight.  My next plan is to spin up some more undyed singles to stripe with that last skein of dyed singles. I think a little striped triangle shawl would be great.

Thanks for indulging me in my new obsession, gang. I hope your weekends are full of handknits and summer sunshine.