You Spin Me Right 'Round...

My MIL has been teaching me to spin wool. We finally figured out (through the miracle that is YouTube) how to use her drum carder and I thought I'd share about my skill. As my goal here is to entertain and not educate, I will try not to get too technical.

When you buy a fleece of wool (think: sheep sheared in one fell swoop leaving a "jacket" of wool) you have to clean, card, spin and then knit it into something beautiful. Okay, you don't have to do all of those steps, but if you don't then you end up with a mound of sheep's wool that is pretty much good for nothing.

My MIL purchased a beautiful fleece at this year's Fiber Fair in southern Humboldt, and washed it in her tub. Here's some shots from my husband's phone (not too shabby for a camera phone, incidentally why did I spend $400 on a digital camera?).


Wishy washy, wishy washy, looks clean, smell's...wishy washy, wishy washy


Want to hop in?


After some light agitating, a cup of Dawn, and a few rinses later it was laid out to dry. And in no time (2 days?) it was ready to be carded. Carding is the process of "combing," for lack of a better word, the fibers into a batt(think: batting) to prepare them for spinning. During this process you also end up removing any remaining dirt and debris.


Here I am carding the wool


See the basket of finished batts behind me?


Here I am showing off my handy work. And, for your viewing pleasure, I have the process of carding on film!! Part way through the video I use a hand carding paddle to "burnish" the wool which basically smooths it out and allows me to add more wool to the carder.



After carding, the wool is ready to be spun. I'm sorry that I don't have a video of me spinning. My MIL has one on her computer so if I end up getting a chance I'll up load it. But I do happen to have some pictures of me spinning the wool.


Here I am working on my "English Longdraw" or pulling the batt waaaay back before letting it spin onto the spool. You can see how thin it is if you look closely at my arm to see it contrasted against my sweater.


I'm concentrating on getting the wool to spin very thin, without breaking! See the wool on the spool that we'd already spun that day? Progress!!


Here are my little helpers. My little boy there is heading for the pedals, he loves to push them down and try to "help" me keep a good pace. Little Miss trying-not-to-look-guilty loves to pinch the wheel until I'm struggling to pedal and wonder what is wrong and finally look up to see her grinning from ear to ear.

I'm having so much fun learning about spinning my own wool and can't wait to have a "homespun" scarf, shawl or pair of socks to show off!!