I love knitting with wool....it's pliant and forgiving as you knit. But it's not really practical for the climate where I live. So I am working on spinning cotton...probably not for knitting but for weaving. Here is my first effort on my Ashford traditional spinning wheel. This is Sea Island cotton that it supposed to have a "long" staple compared to "upland" cotton. But the staple is pretty short, I would guess 3/4 " or less. So one must pay attention while spinning...this first length is double plied. I bought 3 colors (they had five) from http://www.ewephoricfibers.com/ at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fest last weekend.
I bought three colors, white, cinnamon, and green. They had 2 other colors that I didn't purchase. Here is an interesting thing: if you simmer the cinnamon and green in water plus baking soda, the color deepens.
Here are some cotton samples from my trip to Peru years ago...
