"Easy to Spin" Cotton and Where to Find It
Most cotton is carded for machine spinning. Joan realized that what is good for machinery is not always the best for hand spinners. Thus she went in search of sliver or roving that was easy for hand spinners to spin.
Kay Fielding, who used to own Custom Colors probably had the best type of roving of anyone. Working with that and with a carding company that has some new top-of-the-line carding machines, they came up with "Easy to Spin" cotton roving.
A Letter to Cotton Spinners
Dear Hand Spinners,
For years all the spinning books were saying cotton is hard to spin. Then when the Linder's began teaching in the late 70's there was little to no sources for cotton fiber unless you went directly to the cotton gin. This is what Harry Linder did, he bought a bale (480 lbs.) and put it on his front porch. When he and Olive were going to go give a workshop, they would take a wafer off the bale and that was what they had to teach with. Then in the 80's we started to get a little commercial sliver that was carded for the cotton mills. At least it was clean and already carded but was not the easiest to spin.
Also the spinning wheels were designed for spinning wool and long staple fibers. This meant the cotton spinners had to treadle fast and hold the yarn extended out for a long period of time to get enough twist in the short stable cotton to make it a strong stable yarn. Between the wheels with low ratios and poor cotton being available for spinning, I can understand why people thought cotton was hard to spin. It would be the same as trying to spin poor quality wool with a high ratio, all you would come out with is over twisted wool yarn with lumps and bumps in it. But today we have spinning wheels with very high ratios, well educated spinners and a great selection of cotton fibers.
When prepared cotton began to appear in the fiber shops, it was mostly cotton that was prepared for the commercial spinning gins. Sally Fox and Kay Fielding recognized that this was not a good preparation for hand spinners as the cotton was over processed and most of the crimp was removed for commercial use. Thus they both had their cotton specially processed for hand spinners. Then Kay of Custom Colors went out of business and Sally did a limited amount. At this point is when I stepped in and realized if spinners were going to enjoy spinning cotton that I needed to make a supply available.
For many years I had been purchasing Pima, Acala and Sea Island cotton but it was only in the lint form directly from the gin. Finally in 2005 , I began my search for a place to have top quality cotton fiber processed into a sliver that was “Easy to Spin”. Luckily I found an International Textile Center that would process my cotton to my specifications. The carding equipment was new and modern, so that the sliver was very clean and consistent. What a difference this has made to my cotton spinners, they all love this new processed cotton that they did not have to card by hand and that was Easy to Spin.
This carding process leaves the crimp in the fiber which is what makes a fiber easy to spin. It is also carded to a specific weight per length so that it is not compacted and hard to draft. Realizing that this cotton needed to get out to all spinners who wanted to spin cotton, I began wholesaling my “Easy to Spin” cotton to shops around the country. Since I travel so much teaching, I was unable to service all the spinners around the country and chose to distribute though your local fiber art shops. Please see the shops listed below that carry my “Easy to Spin” cotton that presently comes in white Pima and Acala and limited amount of brown and green cotton, all processed so they are Easy to Spin.
Thank you for your wonderful support,
Joan
Where to Purchase "Easy to Spin" Cotton Roving & DVD's
UNITED STATES
| ALABAMA | |
| Fiber Art Work Huntsville, AL 1-256-852-8279 www.fiberartwork.com |
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| ARIZONA | |
| Cotton Clouds Irene Schmoller 5176, S. 14th Ave Safford, AZ 85546 www.cottonclouds.com |
Fiber Factory Susan Clark 216 W. Main St. Mesa, AZ 85201 www.fiberfactory.com |
| Fiber Creek Prescott, AZ 86303 1-928-717-1774 fibercreek@bullerinternet.net |
Grandma's Spinning Wheel Tucson, AZ 1-520-290-3738 www.grandmaspinningwheel.com |
| CALIFORNIA | |
| Carolina Homespun 455 Lisbon Street San Francisco, CA 94112 1-800-450-7786 www.carolinahomespun.com |
Village Spinning & Weaving Shop John Novak 425 Alisal Road Solvang, CA 93463-3704 www.villagespinweave.com |
| FLORIDA | |
| Lunatic Fringe Yarns Havana, FL 1-800-483-8749 www.lunaticfringeyarns.com |
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| ILLINOIS | |
| The Fold 3316 Millstream Road Marengo, IL 60152 1-815-568-5730 www.thefoldatmc.net |
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| NEW MEXICO | |
| Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center Espanola, NM 1-505-747-3577 www.evfac.org |
Village Wools 5916 Anaheim Ave NE Albuquerque, NM 87113 1-800-766-4553 www.villagewools.com |
| PENNSYLVANIA | |
| The Mannings East Berlin, PA 17316-9530 1-717-623-2223 www.the-mannings.com |
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| TEXAS | |
| Spinning Straw into Gold Southlake, TX 1-682-433-4464 www.spinningstrawintogold.com |
White Rock Weaving Center Dallas, TX 1-214-320-YARN www.whiterockweaving.com |
| VERMONT | |
| Copper Moose Bill Mutschler 43 Maple Lane East Burke, VT 05832 1-866-443-4237 www.coppermoose.com |
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| WASHINGTON | |
| Crown Mountain Farms Klaus Kronenberg 22222 Hobson Road Yelm, WA 98597 1-866-652-1738 www.crownmountainfarms.com |
Herndon Creek Farms 809 N Puget Sound AVe Tacoma, WA 1-253-227-5259 hcfjim@hotmail.com |
CANADA
| ALBERTA | |
| Celeigh Wool Margaret Sjostrom RR1 Suite 11 Box 1 Millet, Alberta TOC 1Z0 1-780-387-5047 celeigh@telusplanet.com |
Ancent Arts Fibre Crafts Calgary, AB 1-403-686-6105 www.ancientartsfibre.com |
| BRITISH COLUMBIA | |
| Knitopia Langley, BC Canada 1-604-530-4881 |
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| SASKATCHEWAN | |
| Golden Willow Natural Fiber 3104 13th Ave Regina SK S4T 1P2 Canada 1-306-791-1930 |
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