I hope you have a follow up post planed on how one gets from there to spinning. I am guessing that one takes fibre from the distaff and somehow moves it to the spindle, but I can't tell from this part if you are taking it randomly from any part of cousin It, or if you intend to take it sequentially, in the same order it was placed on the band, or what...
I am also curious to know how much time this distaff dressing process takes, and how much spinning time one gets from it. I gather from other posts of yours that it used to be that "everyone" used a distaff, but for modern spinners it is not so common to use one (though becoming more common again as more historical reenactors experiment with them?)
Is there a savings in total time when using a distaff? (e.g. while dressing the distaff takes time, the spinning part goes enough faster as a result of having done so to make it worth it) Is there an improvement in the quality of the spinning (I am guessing "yes", since I imagine that it would be easier to be consistent as to how much fiber is added per second to the spun yarn).
(you might recall from the first Textile forum that I have seen a fair bit of spinning in action, but don't actually spin myself due to having too many other things I want to do with my time and not enough time to do them, so, perhaps, my questions are too basic as a result, but reading this raised them, so I thought I would ask.)
Thanks for your comments, everyone!
kareina, if you look at the post from two days earlier, you will find an explanation of the spinning technique that goes with the distaff, and also why the distaff is that important for medieval spinning.
opusanglicanum, yes of course it depends, I'd dress a Roman hand-held one differently, too (I have had okay success with just winding a slim length of top around it, for example).
Sorry if you already addressed this elsewhere - what's your stance on spinning straight from the roving? I started spinning with standard merino, and I just wind a continuous length of roving around a broomstick and secure it by tying it over with a band. It seems to work well, although I need to rewind or reposition it once in a while to keep the fibers easily draftable.
Edralis, that might depend on your spinning technique. With the two-handed drafting technique with fully suspended spindle that is the most common technique with modern hand-spinners, winding roving around a broomstick works well. I tried wound-around-stick dressing with the reconstructed historical technique described in the post two days before this, and it did not work at all for me. Your mileage may vary, though - which technique do you use for spinning?
Thank you for the fast answer! I try to do the medieval-type spinning, albeit note that I am not very good at it. Here is a (very indulgent) video of me trying to spin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_tblg9dT2w&feature=youtu.be Unlike what I do in the video (spinning while standing), I usually lean the distaff/broomstick against a piece of furniture and kneel beside it (and usually read fanfiction on my computer while at it ). I manage to spin fairly strong and thin yarn, although it's not super regular, and not as pretty or strong or thin as I'd like. I manage to control the "riding-up" of the spin by pinching the fiber tightly and drafting it out and only releasing it when the pulled out piece of fiber is of the required thinness and attaches to the rest of the roving in a way that doesn't encourage the spin to move upwards - usually there are pieces of fiber attached to the yarn from all around the edges of the roving, which is kind of bunched up in a peak, so when I release the spin it jams against the bunch, instead of riding up along a narrow band of fiber. It's hard to describe it, so sorry if I am being incomprehensible... Or when the riding up does occurs I pinch the fiber and pull it out and reattach it somewhere else, although the join is always rather chunky. Oh, and the yarn tends to do this: http://imgur.com/a/osjSn, and I am not sure if it is a good thing for it to behave like that, or whether I maybe overspin it? I would like to be able to make yarn that is usable even when not plied, but I can't imagine working(e.g. weaving) with this amount of twist. Sorry for the length, lots of things on my mind about the process
Edralis, try dressing your distaff differently or at least pre-drafting your fibre a little bit to loosen up the fibres. You should not need to draft (as in pull) with the distaff hand - for me, that's the effect of moving the spindle hand, the distaff hand just controls fibre flow and twist insertion. If you need to pull, your fibres are too much sticking to each other.
Also it's perfectly normal for yarn to twist up on itself. Anything that does not do that is usually called underspun (even by modern standards). The twist will set over time or through wetting the yarn and letting it dry, and weaving with high-twist yarns like that is possible. For tablet-weaving or sewing, though (or knitting, should you be inclined to that) plying it will be a good idea.