spinning with a Drop Spindle

Spinning wool is something I have been aching to try for a few years but never really got the chance. I am a keen knitter and really love the idea of really doing the whole thing myself, from start to finish, just like people did hundreds of years ago.
At first I found it quite hard to keep the yarn even and stop it from snapping, but I was quite surprised by how quickly it evened out and I was able to make it lovely and thin.

One thing I love about this particular brown fleece is that I was able to see the sheep it came from being sheered, so I will be able to picture exactly where my knitting comes from!
I really love the deep chocolate colour of this wool, however, I found that when I plyed it together, i was so dark that its hard to see the definition of the twist and the stitches when I knit it.  Because of this, I decided to ply it together with some white wool, and I think the result is quite pleasing as you can really see each twist of the wool.

I think this yarn knits up quite nicely. I was expecting it to be very itchy but found it fairly soft, so I am hoping to knit some socks using this yarn, perhaps also using some of the pure brown yarn as well. I hear that you can prevent the knitting being so itchy by plying it with some more expensive soft wool but I cant quite afford £40 for a fleece at this point! I will keep you posted on how my socks work out :)