Tail Spun

 The mohair locks are being flicked open at the cut end. I try to have them arranged close to my Lendrum wheel, with the flicked end to the left.

 On the floor between the treadles I have a cone of commercially spun mohair yarn. This is the core for the new yarn I am making. It is working out very well, because it is a grippy yarn.

I hold the flared base of the lock against the spinning core and it attaches quickly. Soon the tip of the lock flips itself away from me, toward the orifice, which is good. I stop the spinning, or slow down significantly, and grab the next lock and repeat. Each one overlaps a little bit with the previous one. They are attached snuggly.

 This large ball is about 6 yards of completed tail spun yarn. This is a very labour intensive yarn to make. If I ever plan to sell anything made from this yarn, I guarantee it will not be cheap.

 On the bobbin, the yarn appears very unruly. But it is not very difficult to deal with. I do have to wind on by hand quite often though.

This is an example of the final yarn. Note that a lot of the lock tails right now are hung up in the adjacent segments. When I am winding this onto a shuttle I will take the time to release each lock so it hangs free.

Stay tuned to find out what I make with this fun yarn.