Spinning Around

I'm back...

I won't bore you with the long story, as it's not at all exciting. Instead, I will get to the good news:

1. I went to the Shephard's Harvest, and scored a cheapie spinning wheel. It's not pretty, but it does the job well enough (except it squeaks - suggestions? I don't think it's the wheel per se, I think it's the foot pedal. But I'm not entirely certain...)

2. I got a new camera that theoretically works and everything - except that it's so technical that I'm afraid of it. Plus if I try to zoom to a certain point (a not unreasonable one), the aperture stays all slitted, so all I see is a narrow diagonal slot and a very small amount of view through it... and unfortunately, I can't tell if that means that the camera is flawed, or if that's a function of the camera, itself ("You are zooming too close"). ???

3. I have spun two skeins of two-ply!!!


3a. I thought it was pretty decent, for a first try.

3b. When proudly shown the result, my mom said,

"It's bumpy and lumpy and uneven."

3c. Which made me a bit miffed and downhearted...

3d. I discovered that the one ball of batt that I got in each fiber (I got a ball of corriedale,
and a ball of '75% wool, 25% silk') was not actually enough to make a sizeable project, even though it seemed like a lot at the time. And now I am finding that 8 oz. of corriedale does not make the same amount of yarn as 8 oz. of 'wool & silk'. Clearly it takes some experience to figure out how much of what sorts of wool make how much yarn...

3e. White yarn with navy bits in it, when rinsed, results in watermelon-pink rinse water.
It's a mystery!

So tell me: is this lumpy and bumpy and uneven for a first try at spinning and plying?