Spinning & Plying

In my last package of roving, I had 3 different types of fiber.  All very mysterious.  I had no idea what they were, until I looked at some different types and found out that one of them was Blue Faced Leicester, which I had heard is very nice wool.  The roving was super-silky with a long staple-length---like 5+ inches.  Staple length is the length of the fibers, which you may know if you've ever read Lands' End copy.  ;-)

BFL roving

The BFL spun up into this, which looks terrible in the picture because it's all twisty.  I think I put too much twist into it!  (Jen???)  But it really is beautiful.  I did it last of all, and was able to spin it pretty evenly and finely.  I have the most yardage of this one, but it's still not very much, only about 68 yards.  I'm really wondering how much roving one has to buy to spin enough for socks or, heaven forbid, a sweater!

BFL yarn.  I love the stripiness!  I could dye it, but I'm not ready for that step yet!

In that same bag were these 2 other mystery rovings which also spun up nicely.  That's a lovely cardboard-colored brown which I plied with the orange with fun results.  The plying on the spindle was fun, but a little tricksy.  I need to work on my setup---especially since I didn't really have a setup. I just had each yarn in a different box to keep them from getting tangled.

There's very little of this yarn.  I can't remember the yardage, but probably around 20.  I also have some of the orange leftover, so I'm not sure what I'll do with that.  

The verdict?  Spinning is fun!  I would love a spinning wheel someday, but this will do for now.  A good friend asked me why I'm doing this.  Do I want a certain yarn that I can't get otherwise?  No, I'm not the Yarn Harlot who can spin the exact fibers she wants for the project she has in her head.  I just like fiber and the feel of yarn between my fingers.

Now, how can I turn this into a career?