Hi all,

I broke down and bought an Ashford Traveller a couple of weeks ago after using a drop spindle for the past couple of years. So I have a little bit of experience spinning, but nothing I'd really call 'great.' So with any addiction, I needed to find an active online board to coordinate with my current hobby.

I have two daughters, one 4 and the other 3 months. I started on my first project with some barberpoled merino for my baby, which is a diaper soaker/cover (my apologies in advance if the photos are large):

http://www.littlebums.com/images/handspun/handspun1.JPG

so after I got this done:

http://www.littlebums.com/images/handspun/handspun2.JPG

I got to work on some undyed that I hope to kettle dye or just leave natural:

http://www.littlebums.com/images/handspun/merino_handspun.JPG

I've already got a ton of questions to plague you all with, but I leave my intro here at this and jump in with the inquiries soon enough -

Julie[/img]

BEEEUTIFUL!!! :cheering:

Pwetty....

That merino is fabulous! :heart:

Great yarn (and nappies!)

On the to questions!!

okay, questions! I'm getting a lot of thick/thin going on. I know that there is going to always be some of that, but do I need to be teasing the wool to prevent some of this? I really like the smooth feel of unteased wool in my hands, but the teasing effect is a bit of a turnoff.

Any suggestions for maintaining consistent guage? I know it just takes practice, but I'm wondering if there's any advice other than that for a newer spinner?

What type of fiber are you using?? Roving, locks??

Preparation of fiber is key for a consistant yarn. The thick/thin is all in the drafting. You can pre-draft your fiber to a consistent width and spin or draft consistantly while you are spinning.

I always 'open up' roving & slivers so they aren't so compact, it makes drafting easier. Flicking locks at both ends helps drafting if you are spinning locks.