spinning wool :)

[ohiogoatgirl]

lol. ya i am doing a sort of NYC traffic style right now. i think i saw someone do something like it in a youtube video... park and go? not sure what it called it...

 

[Niele da Kine]

Folks doing a "shears to garment" contest will dye their sheep first so if you see a colored critter out there it might be for a contest. They have to shear the critter (usually a sheep), prep and spin the wool and then make a garment out of their yarn. I'm not too sure of the details, but I remember seeing a picture of a rainbow colored sheep and that was the explanation.

Do they call that "park and draft"? I forget, but since your spindles are so light, it is probably the best way to go at the moment. If you had heavier spindles, they'd be able to stay spinning while you drafted but with really light spindles getting a bit of twist in the yarn to work with makes up for the lack of spindle weight.

That's lovely spinning, although the spindles do look a little light, but if they are working then it's all good. My first spindles were made from a wood circle made with a big drill bit mounted circle cutter. That was put on a chopstick with a bit of metal added for the hook. They were pretty light, too, but the fiber being spun was angora which is a pretty light fiber. A lighter spindle may be why your yarn looks to have some nice loft to it. You'll discover all sorts of nuances as you work with different fibers and spindle weights.

Have you tried plying your yarn? If you wrap some paper around the shaft of the spindle and wrap the plies on that, you'll be able to slip them off the spindle and still have them neat and tidy. That would be similar to a bobbin on a spinning wheel. Make two "bobbins" of spun fiber then spin them together spinning your spindle the other direction. Have you heard of "Z" and "S" twist yet?

You'll eventually end up with all kinds of fun stuff. Niddy noddies, swifts, drum carders and breakers. You'll probably end up with a spinning wheel, too. Those are a LOT faster. But what you learn on the spindle is excellent for being able to use a spinning wheel easily later.

A pair of hand carders will make prepping the fiber a lot easier but dog slicker brushes is a good starting point. For fine fibers, a pair of "cotton" cards is real handy. But once you get into it, a drum carder is a good thing.

Some fibers don't need that much prep. Angora and alpaca can be spun directly off the critter although it seems alpacas like to roll in the dirt. The yarn will need a lot of washing after it's spun. Some sheep breeds are easier to spin than others, it seems to be different from fleece to fleece. The finer fleeces have a tendency to have more lanolin and be more "sticky" if they are spun in the raw. It is pretty easy to wash the fiber, though. Mix laundry soap into a pot of water until the water feels real slick. Get another pot of the same size and fill it with water but no soap. Heat them up to just under boiling. Put the fiber into the pan with the soap. Just lay it in there, no stirring, don't push it around but you can press it under the water. Let it sit for twenty minutes, pour the water out. Put a plate on top to protect the wool, then pour the hot water from the other pot into it. Let it sit for a couple minutes then pour that off. Squish the water out and spread the fiber out on a screen to dry. Spin the wool and then you can wash it again as yarn.

:bun :bun :bun :bun :bun Fuzzy bunnies!!! :bun :bun :bun :bun :bun
This is Sherman, he's an angora bunny. The yarn made from his fiber is incredibly soft.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Folks doing a "shears to garment" contest will dye their sheep first so if you see a colored critter out there it might be for a contest. They have to shear the critter (usually a sheep), prep and spin the wool and then make a garment out of their yarn. I'm not too sure of the details, but I remember seeing a picture of a rainbow colored sheep and that was the explanation.

Do they call that "park and draft"? I forget, but since your spindles are so light, it is probably the best way to go at the moment. If you had heavier spindles, they'd be able to stay spinning while you drafted but with really light spindles getting a bit of twist in the yarn to work with makes up for the lack of spindle weight.

That's lovely spinning, although the spindles do look a little light, but if they are working then it's all good. My first spindles were made from a wood circle made with a big drill bit mounted circle cutter. That was put on a chopstick with a bit of metal added for the hook. They were pretty light, too, but the fiber being spun was angora which is a pretty light fiber. A lighter spindle may be why your yarn looks to have some nice loft to it. You'll discover all sorts of nuances as you work with different fibers and spindle weights.

Have you tried plying your yarn? If you wrap some paper around the shaft of the spindle and wrap the plies on that, you'll be able to slip them off the spindle and still have them neat and tidy. That would be similar to a bobbin on a spinning wheel. Make two "bobbins" of spun fiber then spin them together spinning your spindle the other direction. Have you heard of "Z" and "S" twist yet?

You'll eventually end up with all kinds of fun stuff. Niddy noddies, swifts, drum carders and breakers. You'll probably end up with a spinning wheel, too. Those are a LOT faster. But what you learn on the spindle is excellent for being able to use a spinning wheel easily later.

A pair of hand carders will make prepping the fiber a lot easier but dog slicker brushes is a good starting point. For fine fibers, a pair of "cotton" cards is real handy. But once you get into it, a drum carder is a good thing.

Some fibers don't need that much prep. Angora and alpaca can be spun directly off the critter although it seems alpacas like to roll in the dirt. The yarn will need a lot of washing after it's spun. Some sheep breeds are easier to spin than others, it seems to be different from fleece to fleece. The finer fleeces have a tendency to have more lanolin and be more "sticky" if they are spun in the raw. It is pretty easy to wash the fiber, though. Mix laundry soap into a pot of water until the water feels real slick. Get another pot of the same size and fill it with water but no soap. Heat them up to just under boiling. Put the fiber into the pan with the soap. Just lay it in there, no stirring, don't push it around but you can press it under the water. Let it sit for twenty minutes, pour the water out. Put a plate on top to protect the wool, then pour the hot water from the other pot into it. Let it sit for a couple minutes then pour that off. Squish the water out and spread the fiber out on a screen to dry. Spin the wool and then you can wash it again as yarn.

http://i649.photobucket.com/albums/uu219/hotzcatz/IMG_2090.jpg
:bun :bun :bun :bun :bun Fuzzy bunnies!!! :bun :bun :bun :bun :bun
This is Sherman, he's an angora bunny. The yarn made from his fiber is incredibly soft.

park and draft! thats what it was called! lol

i am working on getting a wooden whorl made. but right now rabbit cages are top of the list.

i have been reading about it all and i have heard of Z and S. but havent spun enough as of yet to ply any. soon though.

haha i'm drooling over drum carders and spinning wheels online

interesting about washing yarn.. thanks i washed my mohair with dish soap. was going to do the same with the yarn. but i will try that too.

that reminds me... what exactly is "setting the twist"? i am thinking that it is washing the yarn after you ply it. or wash it after you spin it, for single ply yarn. am i correct?

 

[Niele da Kine]

Washing it would set the twist, although I suppose just getting it wet and letting it dry would do it, too. I almost always do a two ply yarn to even out the consistency as well as even out the twist, too.

For washing, there are different methods and lots of folks have their favorite soap. Frequently, I just use dish soap because it is handy. A nicely scented shampoo works well, too. For raw dirty fleece, then I'll use the hot water bath, mostly because of the lanolin in it. The finer (diameter of hair shaft) fleeces will have more lanolin. For washing the yarn, I'll usually pop it into a quart or half gallon jar, add water and soap, put on a tight lid and shake it back and forth for a bit. Letting it soak for about five to ten minutes first is good, too. Then rinse and hang on the line to dry. If your skein of yarn is really twisted, a weight can be hung on the skein to straighten it, but this isn't recommended unless it is absolutely necessary since it can stretch the yarn and take all the resilience out of it.

Today I've been spinning raw merino and Clun Forest fleeces (two different breeds of sheep). The Clun Forest spins up wonderfully fast but the resulting yarn isn't as soft as the merino. The merino is a PITA to spin. It's fine and full of lanolin as well as the occasional bit of "vegetable matter". The fellow with the Merino doesn't shear them every year so this is a two or possibly three year old fleece and the tips are crispy and damaged. It's a nice mocha chocolate color as well as soft, but there are a lot of things to work around. The Clun forest sheep has a different owner and it is sheared at least once a year, possible this fleece is about a nine month fleece. It is light, open, creamy white and spins up real easy and fast. Just wish it was a nicer yarn when it is done. I'll probably spin some of it chunky and make a rug with it.

When getting a spinning wheel online, it might be best to look at the modern wheels instead of the antique ones since many of the antique ones were made for spinning fibers such as flax. I'm not sure how well they would work with wool. The wheel here is a stock standard Ashford Traditional. There's probably more of these around than any other type of modern spinning wheel. I did modify it by putting three huge finishing nails along the top rail facing the user so I can put the bobbins not in use there. It also makes for a handy place to put the bobbins to ply from. Eventually, I added a string on a spring (like the tension spring on the flyer) across the bottom of the bobbins to keep them from unwinding too fast while plying. Our local hardware, Ikeuchi's, sells big finishing nails for five cents each so it was a fifteen cent improvement. Oh, the spring was another fifteen cents. The wheel is a single treadle, single drive and quite versatile.

What kind of bunnies are you going to get?

 

[ninny]

I spin with drop spindles. I have some BL wool on my top whirl now. I can't do it for too long or my back starts to hurt. I am trying to find a spinning wheel to rent and see if I like it.

 

[odd_duck99]

My Mom in law has alpaca and I would LOVE to get her fiber and learn to spin! If I got the fiber, could anyone help get me started?! I may not need it, as I haven't even googled it yet. I am now invigorated after reading the earlier post saying you just had to wash the yarn arfter spinning, as they like the mud! Could I just wash it in the tub or something? Soap?? Anything bad about washing it a bit before spinning if it's really bad?


SUPER excited!

 

[odd_duck99]

My MIL just agreed to send me some alpaca fiber! I am so friggin' excited! She has 3 years worth of fiber from 2 alpaca... just sitting there! They have them more as pets, but knew the fiber was worth something, so they didn't get rid of it. She is going to send it to me for free - all I have to do now is process and learn to spin! Had to share with people that understand the excitement! lol!

 

[ninny]

My MIL just agreed to send me some alpaca fiber! I am so friggin' excited! She has 3 years worth of fiber from 2 alpaca... just sitting there! They have them more as pets, but knew the fiber was worth something, so they didn't get rid of it. She is going to send it to me for free - all I have to do now is process and learn to spin! Had to share with people that understand the excitement! lol!

I highly suggest learning to spin with wool first. Alpaca can be very slick. Just get some practice wool learn then make some beautiful yarn. When i was having a hard time with a mohair/wool blend I ran it through the carder again. That really helps. If you can I would send the fiber to a mill and have them process it. The time your going to spend processing that is more then you think. Just tell them you want it in rovings for spinning. You may be able to find a local mill or someone to help you. Or I could take it off your hands.

 

[Niele da Kine]

Alpaca is a lovely fiber to spin and easy to prepare. They do roll in the dirt and mud, though, so the fiber can be dirty but usually it's dry by the time you get it. If you have several dog slicker brushes, you can use those to card the fiber a little bit. There's a section about carding here listed under "preparing the bunny fiber to spin". https://sites.google.com/site/hillsidefarmhawaii/spin-the-bunny A light carding and the alpaca fiber is ready to use. You may as well start with the alpaca since you'll have it. Sheep's wool might be easier, but then you'd have to go find the sheep's wool and you'll be switching over to alpaca soon enough anyway so you may as well just jump in. It sounds like they will be sending you enough that there will be plenty to practice on.

Since dirty alpaca isn't as slick as clean alpaca, perhaps just carding it lightly to prep it for spinning might be best. Then after it is spun into yarn, you can wash it clean.

For alpaca (as opposed to sheep's wool) usually I'll add a bit more twist to the fiber to hold it together and do a two ply yarn. Twist it until when you slack off on it, it will twist back up on itself. Make two plies of the same level of twist and then ply them together and that will cancel out the twist and your yarn will hang straight when it's in a skein. When spinning the alpaca, an apron might be nice since you will probably end up with a light layer of dust and dirt from it falling off the fiber as you're working with it.

Will you be using a drop spindle or a spinning wheel?

 

[victorjohnn]

Wow. This looks stunning. I just loved it. Great work done.

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