This brain looking mass? Actually a rather dirty fleece that has been stuffed in my closet for three years... eeew! Actually part of my package deal when I bought my spinning wheel off an older lady, so it's mystery wool. I was dubious as to weather I could make it usable, but I figured a great way to start off washing wool at my new house.
And wow! It cleaned up just fine, and the nice crimp appeared to prove that it is in fact off of a sheep. The lanolin is rather set in to this wool, so my heavy scouring still left it rather greasy - makes it tougher to spin but makes the finished product very durable! The wool was high quality, not at all brittle, anf it fluffed up nicely for dying...
I dyed several hunks when I was dying my last batch of yarn, but the colors on the fleece were very different from the colors on the yarn. Luckily my new yard has a great clothes line just great for drying wool. In Colorado it's so dry anyway, and just a few hours in the sun left it totally ready for carding.
I carded it down at the craft shop, as I'm waiting for my drum carder to come in. It's amazing to watch lumps of wool become huge fluffy batts, then as you spin they magically shrink back down into a skein of yarn. Pictured is my dusky rose skein, but I also carded a blend of purples with mylar sparkles! (Can't go wrong with sparkles!)
After the yarn sits stretched on the niddy-noddy to relax the twist a little I twist it into skeins and put it out for sale! With all the warm weather I should be washing and carding a lot this summer, so come by my shop and stock up for all your winter projects...
This brain looking mass? Actually a rather dirty fleece that has been stuffed in my closet for three years... eeew! Actually part of my package deal when I bought my spinning wheel off an older lady, so it's mystery wool. I was dubious as to weather I could make it usable, but I figured a great way to start off washing wool at my new house.
And wow! It cleaned up just fine, and the nice crimp appeared to prove that it is in fact off of a sheep. The lanolin is rather set in to this wool, so my heavy scouring still left it rather greasy - makes it tougher to spin but makes the finished product very durable! The wool was high quality, not at all brittle, anf it fluffed up nicely for dying...
I dyed several hunks when I was dying my last batch of yarn, but the colors on the fleece were very different from the colors on the yarn. Luckily my new yard has a great clothes line just great for drying wool. In Colorado it's so dry anyway, and just a few hours in the sun left it totally ready for carding.
I carded it down at the craft shop, as I'm waiting for my drum carder to come in. It's amazing to watch lumps of wool become huge fluffy batts, then as you spin they magically shrink back down into a skein of yarn. Pictured is my dusky rose skein, but I also carded a blend of purples with mylar sparkles! (Can't go wrong with sparkles!)
After the yarn sits stretched on the niddy-noddy to relax the twist a little I twist it into skeins and put it out for sale! With all the warm weather I should be washing and carding a lot this summer, so come by my shop and stock up for all your winter projects...
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