3 posts tagged “spinning”

As I think I mentioned, a couple of months ago I acquired a large amount of raw fleece -- five bags full, in fact.  I gave away all but one bag, which I retained in order to have the critical experience in every spinner's life -- the sheep to sweater phenomenon. I thought it might be fun to share the process with you visually. 

Here's what comes off the sheep -- pretty smelly, dirty stuff.  These guys don't have the daintiest toilet habits, and the fleece is matted with vegetable matter (hay and grass) and other unmentionable "matter."  It takes a fair amount of washing and sudsing to get the gunk out.  It is also quite greasy, full of lanolin.  The guys who shear sheep, evidently, have the softest hands in the world

This is what it looks like after it has been washed (and washed and washed).  It actually changes color from brownish to mostly white and snells ever so much better.  There are still a few bits of grass and hay in there, however.

                                                             

The next process is called picking the locks.  There is a large, evil looking
machine that does this mechanically, but most people just sit down and fluff it up by hand.  Tedious, best accomplished while talking to friends or listening to great music. But it is amazing and magic, how large the pile of picked locks is compared with the washed fleece.

Then you feed the cleaned, picked locks into the carding machine which gets the fibers all going in the same direction.  This is a pretty cool step, and this is my new (old) carding machine.  It's possible (but not fun) to do this all by hand with two brush like things called hand carders.  You can see a small one of these in the foreground.  We are watching a BBC series on the Medieval Mind, and it makes you realize that there was a time when these tools and processes were essential if you wanted to wear any clothes at all, especially warm clothes. 

The output of the carding machine are these nice tidy "batts" or "rolags."  all ready to be put through the spinning wheel.  As you may remember, this also involves two steps -- first you spin singles, then you "ply" the individual strands into yarn.  Some of us think this is the fun part.

And then, finally, you can start to make your sweater.  I decided a nice cabled Irish knit sweater would conceal a multitude of sins, and also be nice and warm.  Traditionally these sweaters are made with lightly processed wool that still has a bit of lanolin in it, which makes them somewhat waterproof (good for being at sea).

And one final picture I took with Ihor's new camera of this great poppy that is currently blooming in our garden.

 

I've been busy since I got back from New Zealand.  You wouldn't believe it from this post, but I've been mostly busy with work -- writing and traveling and generally committing acts of corporate poetry.  But the busier I get, it seems, the more productive I get producing all kinds of finger work.  I'm sure there's some unconscious connection.  Anyway, I apologize to my vast audience for being a lousy blogger, but you will soon see why.

When I tell people I'm really into spinning, people generally agree with me that it's excellent aerobic exercise.  No, not that kind of spinning, I tell them.  Think wool.  That's where I lose them.  But there's a growing number of us -- in fact it was recently covered as a phenomenon in the New York Times.  Stressed out executive women who spin wool.  It's fun, it's tactile, and it's a bit hypnotic.  Ghandi did it.  And it produces beautiful yarn.  This week the spinning group met at my place.  Combine slightly hypnotic with social and you get a wonderful group energy -- peaceful and thoughtful.  As Martha would say, "It's a good thing."