Yesterday was the latest installment of the Wata-Ai Trust at Oyama Senmaida. As usual, we did field work in the morning and craft in the afternoon.

Our morning activity was harvesting cotton. It was hot work. I figured out some efficient techniques for plucking the bolls and got as much picked as quickly possible while other members chatted and worked at a relaxed pace.

We grew four varieties: jumbo, wa-men, cha-men, and American cotton. The American cotton was most productive with two full bags harvested. We got a bag each of jumbo and wa-men. The pretty brown cotton yeilded a disappointing half a bag. What will we do with the cotton we collected? I don’t know yet.

After lunch we tried our hand at spinning. Three of our group have good experience with spinning and brought their own work and tools. They played with the spinning wheel and stood around talking about advanced topics.

Three of us are new to it (well, I am coming back after a 30 year hiatus, so effectively new again). We made supported spindles from paper-clay and chopsticks. I brought along a spindle that I made that morning from a cork and a chopstick, so I was right in the DIY zone.

I hoped that my muscle memory would kick in, but it didn’t. Maybe I don’t even have those muscles any more. I had forgotten how challenging it is to draft for hand spinning. Drafting is where you pull the fluff into a string in order to add twist. Cotton is especially tricky because its short fibers pull apart with the slightest error.

As with everything, the only way to get better is to practice with intention to improve. So I will probably always make wonky yarn.