cotton is one of a few plant that were domesticated in both the new world and the old world.. and there is cotton and there is cotton. some cottons have longer thinner fibers. some are short. long thin fibers spin up into thinner stronger thread, and my egyptian cotton sheets are 250 count. that is, in one square inch of fabric, 125 threads going one way, 125 threads crossing.. (they feel like satin they are so smooth!)
sea isle cotton is another wonderful cotton, a hybrid of new world cotton and egyptian, it grows along the coast of the carolina's, (is was first developed on sea isle) and it ranks with egyptian cotton as some of the finest in the world.
now days, they are developing cottons with color. cotton is naturaly close to white, but not quite. some cottons are whiter. but with the use of hybrids, cotton is being grown in heathery shades of green, red, tan and blue...
(what do i mean by heather... soft.. washed out blue jeans could be called a heather blue.)
colored cotton keeps it color --it not a dye that can wash out or fade, its better for the environment(no harsh chemical run off from dying process. )
and before spinning wheels, spindles were free. the sort of looked like a wooden top (the child's toy) a dowel, about 12 to 15 long, with a crochet like hook at one end, and a wooden disk on one end. (i first said
lower end but the site showed two examples, lower and upper, and upper was more common.)
you spun the spindle by hand, and spun as you walked(tending sheep or what not--remember for many thousand of years, humans where migrants.)
it is much harder to get a uniform thread done this way. but if you keep pretty still, you can do quite fine.
i look and see if i can find a picture of hand spindle.
here are some beautiful hand spindles. it enough to make you want to go out and get some wool!
http://www.paradisefibers.com/spindles/index.asp 
