It has been almost a year since I bought my spinning wheel. In that time I have spun many skeins and learned a lot. Last week I tried something new.
In my spinning so far I have only used Combed Top (This is where the fibers are combed so they lay parallel to each other). Top is very easy to find commercially and comes in many colours and fibers. When I bought my spinning wheel I bought the previous owner’s fiber with it – including 10 little tiny batts (A batt is where the fibers are carded on a drum carder where the fibers are not parallel. It is a very airy preparation).
I set out to spin these tiny batts woolen (it’s a spinning term that means you don’t micromanage how your yarn comes out), but the fiber had a bit of the original grease still left in it, which made it a bit tacky and hard to draft. After fighting with it for a while I reverted back to my normal worsted draft (this is when you do micromanage your yarn), and from there it was smooth sailing.
I ended up unintentionally spinning the singles Z (counterclockwise) and plying S (clockwise). Normally I do it the other way. I attenuated the batts from either end so they looked like large rolags to maximize the squishy airiness of my yarn.
I think I succeeded.
Fiber: 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Bamboo
Preparation: Batts, attenuated from either end
Spinning Style: Worsted (short backward draw)
Spun Z, Plied S
Number of Plies: 2
Yardage: 240 yds (480 yds singles)
Weight: Sport (ish)
Dramatic Lyric 
Nice job! I have not yet mastered batts, but I have one in the big pile of fiber to be spun. I too have been spinning about a year, and LOVE it.
They are super fast to spin! I hope you love it when you do spin your batts 🙂
Me, too! I like the fluffiness of it, very different from what I have been spinning.
Oh, you’ll love the yarn! Soooo fluffy! And light!