When I signed up for the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em passport in 2019 Teeswater wasn't on the conservation priority list. It was added in 2020 and soon after I purchased 4 oz of Teeswater Roving from Lawrence Cottage in Oregon.
I did a tiny bit of sampling with it when I initially received it; however, it has had to sit in my stash waiting its turn. In an effort to be transparent, I suppose I should admit that it took a back seat because even though they can be absolutely beautiful, I am just not drawn to working with longwools. I am more of down-like and medium wool spinner and knitter. I like elasticity and I like spinning woolen and knitting with those type of yarns, so longwools don't really fit into that. But I also like to mix things up and give myself a challenge from time to time and I really try to appreciate that there is a wool for every purpose and a purpose for every wool so I set about spinning up the long neglected Teeswater roving.
It said "roving" on the package anyway. It didn't really feel exactly like top, it wasn't quite that smooth, but it also wasn't jumbled up the way the Leicester Longwool I spun last month was.
I have spun longwools before so I was aware of some things. 1) Too much twist make longwools feel ropey. I was spinning this on my Kiwi 3, so I kept it on the lowest ratio (5.5:1). I did try spinning it with the jumbo/super flyer attachment too. That flyer is mostly meant for art yarns, but the ratios are even lower and now I have an orifice reducer that makes spinning normal yarns on it less annoying, so I thought it was worth a try. Perhaps it is that I haven't hit my stride with that flyer yet anyway since it is bobbin-led, but I was not getting enough twist with it, so I went back to the regular flyer. 2) Staple length matters and keeping your hands far enough apart makes a big difference in being able to draft without frustration. The sellers included some locks with the roving, so that was very helpful to see the staple length without even pulling out any fibers from the roving.
Even with that knowledge and some prior experience, I did struggle a bit in the beginning. This might be because I'd been spinning Oxford and plying polled Dorset, so my muscle memory was recalling working with a very different type of wool. When you have been working with short, springy wool switching to long, drapey wool is quite a switch. I committed to spinning for at least a few minutes everyday and within a few days I was finding the spinning to be a lot more enjoyable.
Unless or until I find a use in my making for longwools I probably won't be spinning them too very often, but I would definitely recommend Teeswater for anyone who loves spinning and/or using longwools. It is relatively soft, it has a beautiful luster, and if you like using locks in your spinning they do have gorgeous curls.
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