Day 1 'The Tour De Fleece 2011' - Preparing 'Local' Fleece for Spinning

This did not look very promising.  I was given this fleece and I do not know what breed of sheep it is from.  It was reared within 10 miles of my house though, so is a nice bit of 'Worcestershire' Wool.

Using my trusty 'Minty Drum Carder':

I have managed to turn it into this:

I am pleasantly surprised.  It looks quite acceptable.  I actually like the natural grey.  I really did not think it would become anything I would enjoy spinning.  I can't wait to give it a go.  I had no idea how it would card and equally I have no idea how it will spin, it is all a mystery to me.  It feels like it is going to need a good  spray of oil, 50% olive oil and 50% water.  It took a couple of hours to card the 50g of wool in the basket which is a small fraction of the fleece.  I would like to card the whole fleece before I start to spin but I think that may be unlikely.  I will probably card a bit and spin a bit, card a bit and spin a bit.  Call me naive, but I am somewhat shocked by what a massive labour dealing with raw fleece is.  Nobody said it was going to be easy I know, but it amazes me that this 'work' was done in the past out of necessity rather than for fun.  After all this someone will end up with a highly prized bobble hat!  I imagine if I did want to make an income I would have to charge £100 a hat, or work for a penny an hour!  We would go hungry if it wasn't for the turnips and raspberries!

     
  Today is Day 1 of 'The Tour De Fleece'.  I have now managed to card just over 100g of fleece to spin.  I have the house to get straight and then I can spin with a clear conscience.  I have more 'Cheese' on the go and I am trying a 'Slowpot/Crockpot' recipe for a 'Carrot Cake'.  It smells delicious.  If it turns out as nice as it smells I will share the recipe.  It is only the second cake recipe I have tried in the Slowpot.  The first was a big hit.  I hope you are having a great weekend, I think it is going to be quite a sunny one here.

First results from my new toy - Drum carder

Today is a nice bright day with the sun popping in and out from behind the clouds.  I could see the results of yesterdays carding in its full glory.  I took very quick photographs as the sun keeps disappearing.  I am beginning to realise it is very hard to take pictures of fibre.  I must try harder to take pictures that show the true colour and texture.  The fibre in the bag is Angelina which is very sparkly not that you would know from this picture.  The white is silk and the other is my Merino dye experiment/accident!

My six year old and I had fun drum carding for the first time yesterday and he christened the resulting batts 'Oil Slick'.  I think it is very apt.  Here are the batts and a small amount of spun single.

'Oil Slick' In all it's Glory

I have just found really clear turorials for using a Drum Carder on Alison Daykin's blog:
Alison Daykin's Tutorial for using a Drum Carder 1
Alison Daykin's Tutorial Drum Carder Part 2

My New Toy - A 'Minty' Drum Carder

Today my new toy arrived.  I splashed out to compensate for my imminent 40th birthday.  I feel it is a bit extravagant and over indulgent but I can live with it!

It is a 'Minty' Drum carder.  I managed to get it second hand so I can justify it as a bit of a bargain.  I hope it will be very useful.  I like my Ashford Hand Carders but as said in a previous post they are bicep builders, fortunately though my six year old seems to love carding fibre and can make quite a tidy batt.  I feel awful exploiting him, but he is so willing to undertake this child labour.  When he got home from school he could not wait to get his hands on the above machine.  After tea I asked if he would like to help me and he was over the moon.

     Our first project has been to try and make something out of my pretty awful experiment at dyeing with food colouring using my crockpot.



When we opened up the braid we were surprised at how much blue there was.  This Merino wool has been through the wars, as it was the victim of a previous dyeing experiment gone wrong.  It was put through the drum carder with approximately 20% silk and a sprinkle of Green Angelina (Sparkly).  With the much needed help of my able assisstant it scrubbed up quite well.  I have not take photographs yet as we worked in pretty bad electric light.  I thought the batts were taking on a nice bluish sheen,  The theme for our Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing Guild's (Birmingham) Annual Exhibition 'Competition' this year is 'The Sea'.  I asked my six year old if the batts reminded him of the sea.  He replied with positive enthusiasm 'Yes it does actually, ...that sea with the oil slick!'   The truth hurts.  I am currently spinning the fibre on my little Kiwi.  I will have to see what daylight brings.  I am sure my willing 'partner in crime' will be pleased with some 'Oil Slick Socks' as the fruit of his labour.