a guide to processing wool

8/4/2019 A Guide to Processing Wool

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A Guide to Processing Woolto Make Wool Roving:

Washing Wool, Carding Wool, and Combing Wool

presents




Spinners by nature like to make things rom scratch. Not only are we compelled to makeour own abric, we’ve started down the slippery slope o making our own yarn—and

now are considering processing our own bers. Our riends and amily may be wonderingwhen we’re going to buy our rst ock o sheep—perhaps you have already! At any rate, itis a natural progression and we’ve compiled a number o articles or you that should makethe process o getting started easy and un.

One o the oldest o Interweave’s publications, Spin.Of is a quarterly magazine that hasbeen around since 1977 inspiring spinners new and old to make beautiul yarn and ndenchanting ways to use it. We also host the spinning community, spinningdaily.comcomplete with blogs, orums, and ree patterns, Spin.Of Autumn Retreat (SOAR)—anintense and inspirational week with like-minded spinners, and our series o workshop

videos where the living treasures o the spinning world share their knowledge with you.We’re devoted to bringing you the best spinning teachers, the newest spinning ideas, and most inspirationalcreativity right to your mailbox, computer, and ultimately ngertips.

We hope you enjoy your spinning journey—come tell us about it at spinningdaily.com.

Happy spinning,

Amy Clarke [email protected]

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F i b e r P r e P a r a t i o n : What are Roving,

Top,and Sliver?B y A b b y F r a n q u e m o n t

I

t’s common nowadays or a lot o olks in the iberworld to use the word “roving” to reer to any unspuniber. his isn’t really accurate and doesn’t give a clear

sense o what the preparation really is—and the prepara-tion is relevant!

Preparation reers to the way the cleaned (and some-times dyed) ibers have been organized beore spinning.Preparation involves tools such as handcards, ickcarders, drumcarders, wool combs, hackles, and mini-combs. hese tools are designed to align the ibers.

In most European-derived spinning traditions, yarnsare categorized as worsted or woolen; worsted yarns aretightly spun without air trapped between the ibers; theyare spun rom combed prep with all the ibers parallel,producing a smooth, long-wearing yarn. Woolen yarns are

produced rom carded prep using more hands-o tech-niques and resulting in a more heterogeneous iberalignment with air trapped in the yarn. Woolen yarnsare loty; worsted yarns are dense.

raditionally, it is not possible to spin a true worstedyarn unless you use both worsted prep and worsted drat-ing technique. Likewise, or a traditional woolen, you needwoolen prep and woolen drating technique. However, Ithink o these categories as deining the ends o a spectrumo possibility and urge mixing and matching or results thattraverse that spectrum.

here are also Andean, Arican, and other non-Europe-an textile traditions whose yarns don’t exactly it in that

spectrum. Nonetheless, English speakers tend to discussthose techniques with terms rom Western Europeantraditions.

Another important thing to note about the types o iber preparations available or handspinners today isthat many o them are not prepared speciically orhandspinners—they are intermediate stages in industrialprocessing, adapted (or adaptable) or handspinning.

he bottom line is that there are more preparations o iber, done by hand or done by machine, available to thehandspinner now than at any time beore.

Handcombed top

Commercial top




A true handcombed top is the only thing romwhich you can spin a traditional worsted yarn. For aworsted yarn, all the ibers are parallel, smoothed downinto the yarn with the air squeezed out, and there isno twist in the drating zone. his prep is really bestsuited to true worsted spinning, but can be spunsemiworsted (using a woolen technique).

A commercial top is a machine-produced variant o the above. he ibers are mostly all parallel, but where-as a true combed top will present them tip irst everytime, a commercial top does not. his causes commer-cial top to drat a little less smoothly than true hand-combed top, a tendency that is heightened by the actthat commercial top will oten become a little compact-ed in shipping and storage, while handcombed tops areusually very resh. Once you’re used to this prep, youcan spin a pretty air worsted yarn, a pretty air wool-en-ish yarn, or a range o yarns in between.

A rolag is made with handcards—it’s a puy roll o iber. raditionally, or woolen spinning, you spin a

rolag rom one end, and your ibers end up circlingaround a hollow core as you use a ast long-drawdrating technique. You could spin this with worstedtechnique, but it would be slow. You’d stil l get uzzy,not smooth yarn, but it would be stronger than atraditional woolen.

A batt is made on a drumcarder and is like a blanketo ibers, carded, but more aligned than you get in arolag. You can strip these, predrat them, tear o chunks, or roll them up, and then spin them withwhat’s considered either woolen or worsted technique;and you can pull them or tear them into rovings.

A roving is a carded preparation whether produced byhand or industrial equipment. It is commonly wrist-thick,though thickness can vary; one way or another, a roving isusually made rom a batt, either pulled o the cardingequipment in roving orm, or in some cases, pulled laterrom a batt.

A sliver is a thinner variant o a roving. Sliverdoesn’t have any twist to it at all, while roving has atiny bit o twist (not spinning twist, but a slight twistto the entire rope). Sliver is what mills generally calltheir intermediate stage. (Note: it’s pronouncedsly-ver).

Pin-drafted roving has been careully dratedthrough a series o pins, producing an open, loty rov-ing with a more aligned prep than is typical o otherrovings.

A puni is similar to a rolag, prepared on handcards,ater which the ibers are rolled on a stick and compressedby rolling this stick on a at surace. Punis are a commonprep or cotton and other very ine ibers.

Hankies, caps, bells, and mawatas are commonterms or silk preparations in which silk cocoons arestretched out wide and layered together. hese do lookrather like a handkerchie, cap, or bell, depending on

Batt

Roving

Rolag




Sliver

how large they are and what they have been stretchedover. hese are typically spun by loosening the ibersrom the middle and drating (or predrating) rom theinside out to the edges. hese preparations don’t lendthemselves to spinning yarns that are as smooth asthose rom silk top or sliver would be. z

Abby Franquemont , raised in the iber arts, lives in Ohio

where she runs www.abbysyarns.com and serves on the board

o directors o Andean Textile Arts. She spins, weaves, knits,

crochets, braids, sews, mends, and designs, and talks about it

all nonstop.

Handcombed top, made rom dyed Corriedale top rom Louet North America,www.louet.com. Commercial top, Mohair wool blend rom Bonkers Hand-made Originals, www.bonkersber.com. Rolag, made rom Polwarth berrom Rovings, www.rovings.com. Batt, wool/silk blend rom Loop, www.loop.etsy.com. Roving, dyed wool roving rom Lone Tree Wools, www.lonetreewools.com. Sliver, Northern Lights wool rom Louet North America, www.louet.com. Pin-drated roving, Shari McKelvey at Morro Fleece Works, www.morroleeceworks.com. Puni, made rom cotton/silk top rom LouetNorth America, www.louet.com. Hankies, Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks,www.crownmountainarms.com/html/rainbows.html.

Pin-drated roving Puni Hankies

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One o the questions I am most requentlyasked while teaching is how to wash wool. Idon’t know o anyone who has not experi-

enced a problem at one time or another whenwashing a wool leece. It is a process that eludesmost new spinners and can even cause problemsor the most proicient wool worker. Getting theleece squeaky clean and not elting it in the pro-cess was one o my irst hurdles. In my early spin-ning years, I convinced mysel that washing asmuch leece as I was able to at one time was thebest way to attack the job and get it over with. hatattitude created a whole new set o problems, espe-

cially when the weather was not accommodating,and I had wet wool everywhere in my house or aweek. I also learned irsthand o the problems youcan create or your wastewater system when somuch lanolin goes down the drain. At about thesame time, I took a class with Margaret Stove,author o Handspinning, Dyeing and Working with Merino and Superine Wools (Interweave, 1991), whoenlightened me with her method o washing verysmall amounts o wool at a time.

here are many ways to wash wool. I havedeveloped my method o washing ater thirty-

our years o experimenting. I use this methodwhether I am washing one small bag o very inewool in my sink or an entire leece outside in awashtub on a beautiul sunny day.

I wash at least ten leeces a year. I try to do 90percent o my washing outside during the summermonths. I have large burners and tubs set up andeasy access to an outside water source. All o mywastewater is thrown into the woods on my prop-erty (the soap is environmentally riendly). Fordrying large quantities o wool, my husband mademe a drying rack that I place on sawhorses. It lookslike a skirting table with plastic mesh screen sta-

pled to a 4-by-8-oot rame made up o 4-by-8-inchpine boards. he rame will hold several wet, heavyleeces. he open mesh allows ree low o air sothat the iber dries quickly on a nice day. he plas-tic mesh can be purchased at almost any home andgarden center. his rame hangs on the woodshed(just under the overhang) when it is not in use.

he irst step I take when washing wool is tolay the leece out and make sure it is well skirted.Skirting means removing the short and very dirtyiber that is ound in the britch area o the leece.When you pay a premium price or a handspin-ning leece, these tags, as they are called, should

already be removed. I I see many second cuts, Imay shake the leece so the short ibers all awayrom the wool. I not removed, these second cutscan create a problem during iber preparation(carding or combing) or while you are trying tocreate a smooth and consistent yarn.

Secondly, I look at the type o wool I am wash-ing. Is it a ine wool with a high lanolin content (upto 50 percent o the weight o the wool), or is it aluster wool with less lanolin (up to 20 percent o the leece weight)? he only dierence in my han-dling o dierent types o wool is that I generally

wash ine wools twice to ensure the lanolin isremoved. I the lanolin is not removed, the dryiber becomes tacky (sticky) in a very short time.his tackiness makes it diicult to get a satisacto-ry iber preparation and inhibits the ability to dratthe iber evenly when handspinning. Although it isa little more challenging to wash ine wool, takinga ew precautions will help ensure that the woolgets squeaky clean the irst time it is washed.

Wool washI have used Orvus Paste or many years andappreciate the way it cleans raw wool. It is gener-

Washing WoolB y R o b i n R u s s o




ally available at eed and tack stores. In the pastew years, some new products have come on themarket that are available to handspinnersthrough local iber stores, sheep and wool esti-vals, as well as on the Internet. hey are reerredto as wool scouring agents, and they also do agreat job. Some do not even require rinsing. I useKookaburra Scour as oten as I do Orvus Paste. Itis a plant-based product containing no peroxide,alkali, phosphates, or enzymes and is sae oryour septic system and the environment.

Water considerations Another consideration is the water. Hard water canleave your leece eeling harsh. Most grocery storeshave water soteners available in liquid orm to addto your laundry, and they work well with just a smallamount added to the washtub. I your water is hardbut you have a water sotening device added to yourwater system, this additive is unnecessary.

Organizingo help prevent elting and to keep the wool wellorganized, I use mesh bags to wash my leece. hesecan be purchased inexpensively rom discountstores. hey have zippers and are generally usedor washing lingerie. I usually put 6 to 8 ounces o wool in a bag. Using the bags helps prevent agita-tion, as the bags can be lited in and out o the sinkeasily. hey can also be hung over the sink or tubto drip so that you are not tempted to squeeze orwring the water rom the leece, as that action

would most certainly create some degree o elting.

Washing instructionso wash wool, place 6 to 8 ounces o wool in a zip-pered lingerie bag and immerse it in a tub o veryhot water (125˚F) with Kookaburra Scour orOrvus Paste (use the amount o ormula as direct-ed on the product). Let the wool soak or 15 min-utes. It is important not to let the water coolsigniicantly because this could cause the lanolinto reattach to the iber. Lit the bag in and out o the water a ew times during this 15-minute soak,without agitating the wool. Allow the water to

drip rom the bag while illing the tub again withthe same temperature water (I hang the bag on ahook above my sink). When washing a ine leece,do a second wash with a small amount o woolscour and let it soak once again (liting the bagoccasionally and placing it back in the tub). Final-ly, hang the bag again and let the water drip romthe bag while you ill the tub or the last timewith equally hot water. Place the bag in the rinsewater and lit it in and out o the water severaltimes during a 10-minute soak to see how clearthe rinse water is. his one rinse should be suf-

cient to remove any remaining dirt and scouringagent. I the water is still murky ater this irstrinse, then you should do one additional rinse.

Allow the liquid to drip or about 30 minutes orthe last time, remove the clean iber rom thebag, and set it on a towel or rack to dry com-pletely—remember that drying time will varydepending on your climate. z

Robin Russo lives in Bradord, Vermont, where she

teaches spinning, dyeing, elting, and working with

exotic ibers. She has taught at numerous gatherings o

spinners, weavers, knitters, and historical societies. As a

iber enthusiast or more than orty years, she takes every

opportunity to explore its potential.




2

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Choose a ick carder that eels comortable in your hand. (1) Schacht. (2)Patrick Green. (3)TeKotero. (4) Louet. (5)Unknown brand.

A ick card (sometimes called a icker) lookslike a small at-back handcard with a

smaller surace or the carding cloth and aslightly longer handle than that o a handcard. Itspurpose is to quickly open up locks o wool. Flick-carded locks can be drated and used directly orknitting, crochet, or as wet in weaving. You canalso spin rom the ends or the old o icked locks toproduce semiworsted yarn, or prepare the locks ur-ther by hand- or drumcarding. No matter what yourpurpose is or ick carding, the one phrase to keep

in mind throughout the process is “light and easy.”

I you are planning to ick card regularly, thenI highly recommend that you purchase a tooldesigned or the purpose. Fibers chosen or ick-ing should be at least 4" long and those bersare usually coarser than shorter bers. Mostanimal combs (dog combs oten substitute orick cards) are designed to remove an undercoato short, sot hair. Te carding surace is smalland the teeth are short. Flick cards have teethabout ½" high and they cover a surace 1¾" to 3"long and 3½" wide. With a ick card, it is easyto “ick” through the narrow lock o long wool

Flick CardingB y C a r o l H u e b s c h e r R h o a d e s




Make sure your tetanus

shot is up todate beore fick carding. It is

easy to miss the ber andnick your hand, so work care-

ully. Immediately wash anycuts with antibacterial soap.

Grasp an end o the lock rmlybetween your thumb and oren-

ger and hold it down at your

thigh. Make sure you have con-trol o all the bers. Hold the ick

card, teeth downward, in thepalm o your dominant hand,

with your ngers curling aroundthe handle and your thumb

across the handle near the baseo the card. That will keep the

card steady as you work.

The end o the lock should nowbe a an o separated bers.Beore you begin ick carding,nd a comortable place to sit and

cover one thigh with a piece o leather or card stock. I hold the

ick card with my right hand andthe ber on my let thigh. To avoid

losing a lot o ber, always holdthe lock against your thigh, not

up in the air.

Starting with the card 4"–5" abovethe lock, ick downward into thelock with a quick wrist motion.

Since I am right-handed, my wristrotates counterclockwise; let-

handers rotate the wrist clockwise.Once the card hits the locks, it

should open up the top two-thirdso the staple and then sweep

neatly away rom the ber.

and open up hal a staple at a time. A dog comb ismore useul or gently icking open a ne, short-staple ber.

My avorite ick card is the standard width buthas only 11 rows o teeth. It is lightweight—2.8ounces compared to another card with 18 rows o teeth weighing 6.3 ounces. Te small size doesn’tstress my hands and wrist as I ick; the heaviercard tends to all into the ber, meaning that Idrag rather than sweep it away at the end o thestroke and remove more ber than intended. ryout several models and choose the one that eelscomortable and does the job most efciently. Anadditional item useul or ick carding is a pieceo leather to ick against; however, I normally usea piece o heavy card stock paper to protect mythigh and clothing.

Many bers rom ne to coarse, especiallywool, are suitable or ick carding. “Light andeasy” is also the key here. Choose a long-staple

eece that is ree o vegetable matter, manure,and matting. A eece with distinctive locks is easyto separate or icking, and a nongreasy eecewill be easier to wash.

When I plan on ick carding, I separate bundles

o our to six locks and align them so all the tipends ace the same direction (locks or staples usu-ally end in a tip separating one lock rom another,so use the tips to sort locks). I then put 1 to 2 ounc-es o locks into a small net bag (small onion bagswork well), close the bag ends, and wash the eecewith wool wash in warm to hot water (the ner andgreasier the wool, the hotter the water). Ater veminutes, I support the bag rom underneath, lit itrom the water, roll it down the length to squeezeout some water, and then rinse the wool two orthree times in the same temperature water. Atersqueezing out the water or the last time, I removethe locks rom the bag and separate them into thinlayers to dry.

Once the locks are completely dry, I separatethe bundles into individual locks. Wool withpointy tips makes this easy. For blocky wools(where individual tips are not easily distin-guished), I separate the ber into thumb-width

segments. It is easiest to ick a small amount o wool at a time. Te idea is to ick through an endwith one quick downward stroke; switch ends andick. I you can’t ick through the width com-pletely on the downstroke, then you have too

Safety




much ber. I there is any matting in the ber,open the ends by hand beore icking. Tecard should move smoothly and easily throughthe locks.

I your bers are well chosen and clean,then ick carding through the locks should bevery ast. I you nd that you have to do two ormore passes or each end, then you probablyhave too much ber (the lock is too wide and/or thick) or the locks have some matting. It isbetter to open recalcitrant locks by hand thanby icking. Flicking at mats removes too muchber and can damage the carder teeth. Forlong but ne bers, such as Blueaced Leicesteror suri alpaca, open about an inch o length ata time, and move up the ber until the entirelock is open. You might also remove too muchber and damage the ends i you repeatedlypat at the ber with the icker.

Te ick card will remove some short bers.

I you nd a lot o longer bers in the teeth,then you might not be holding all o the lock atone end or are not holding it rmly enough.Be careul though—a death grip on either thelock or the card is not good or your handsand wrist.

I you are not sure you want to invest inwool combs, ick carding oers a quick andinexpensive way to prepare wool or worsted-style yarns. You can spin rom the ends or theold with a short orward draw or smooth,dense yarn that will still have some lot. I

usually spin the locks with a backward drawor a more woolen-style yarn. z

Carol Rhoades lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where shespins all sorts o yarn or winter woollies.

I always ick the tips rst and then the cut ends, and I arrange rows o locks in a long,

shallow box with all the tips acing the same direction. You may want to put tissue

paper between the layers, particularly i you won’t be spinning right away. Don’t

stack the layers too high or the bottom ones will be squashed.

To ick the opposite end o the lock,

neatly “close” the an and grasp that end

as or the opposite one; ick the bers

as beore.

This is an example o too much wool.




You’ll be able to nd handcarders inspinning and weaving shops, or bymail order rom Spin.Of or other

ber magazines. You’ll oten be given achoice between straight-backed carders orcurved-back carders, and between woolcarders or cotton carders. For your rstpair, I suggest that you get curved-backwool carders. Te curved backs will giveyou precise control during the carding pro-cess, and the wool carders (also called woolcards) handle a wide range o ber types

and diameters. Later on, when you wantto experiment with carding and blendingshort delicate bers like cotton, some o the silks, cashmere, and Angora rabbit,you’ll want to invest in cotton carders withner closer-set teeth.

Te purpose o handcarding is to open,separate, and straighten the wool bers.Te product is a small batt or rolag o woolwhose openness and lotiness makes yourdrating much easier. Handcarding alsogives you greater control in spinning the

woolen yarn you desire. Woolen yarns arewarm because air is trapped among thebers; they are uzzier at the surace thanworsted yarns, and they’re generally soterand lotier. Woolen yarns are excellent orknitting and crocheting and as the wetyarns in weaving.

Te rst thing to do is charge a hand-carder with wool. ake one carder in yourlet hand, palm up, with the handle point-ing away rom you and the wooden backresting against your leg (wire teeth point-

ing up). Tis let carder will remainstationary while the other carder does thework. ake a little clean wool in your righthand and begin pulling it across the teetho the let carder rom the handle endtoward the ront end, so that the bers are

just held by the teeth. Load it until theteeth are barely obscured—you can card athin layer more efciently and evenly thana thick layer. Fiber ends should extendbeyond the ront edge o the carder, butthey should not extend beyond the teeth

at the handle end.Now take the other carder in your right

hand, palm down, with the handle towardyou and the wood back acing up. You aregoing to brush the wool on the let carderwith the right carder, using a gentle rock-ing motion, so that the teeth at the handleend o the right carder engage the woolrst. As you rock through and brush back,the ront teeth engage thewool last.

When you get to the point in your

stroke where the teeth meet, avoid pullingdown and through so that the teeth inter-lock and end up scraping past one another.Instead, just pull back and through so thatthe teeth barely touch as they pass.

On your successive strokes continuethe rocking motion as you brush the wool.Brush the wool that lies on top o theteeth, not the wool imbedded in the teeth.I you mesh the teeth o the carderstogether and orceully pull them past oneanother, you will end up tearing and

The Handcarding

Process A book excerpt rom Spin It: Making

Yarn rom Scratch By Lee Raven, Edited by

Traci Bunkers (Interweave, 2003)Charge the carder by taking a handful of

wool and pulling it across the teeth of thecarder. Do this gently; brush the wool

across the teeth and let them grab a partof it.

1

Repeat until you have a thin, even layer o

wool across the carder.

2

Begin to card by taking the other carder

in your right hand. Use a light, rockingmotion. The tips o the teeth on the

carders should not meet.

3




breaking the delicate bers. You will alsoput excessive wear on your carders.

It will take about ve to ten strokes totranser the wool rom the let carder ontothe right carder. When all the wool on topo the teeth has been carded, and bothcarders look equally charged, it is time tostart liting and brushing the remaining

bers rom the teeth o the let carder asthey transer to the right carder.

ranser the wool rom the let carderto the right carder by starting at the rontedge and engaging the ber tips hangingo the ront end o the let carder asbeore, but do not stroke back. Instead,rock the right carder orward, meshingsome o the teeth o the two carderstogether (but not scraping them past oneanother). Lit the right carder rom thehandle toward its ront edge as you pull

through and complete your rockingstroke—the engaged bers rom the letcarder will lit rom the teeth and suraceo that card and transer to the right card-er. Continue this rocking, liting, brushingmotion as you overlap the carders moreand more. In the end, all the bers romthe let carder should have transerred tothe right carder.

You need to go through the whole pro-cess once or twice more, or as many timesas necessary to open and brush the bersinto a completely uniorm mass. o startagain, transer the bers on the right card-er back onto the let carder asollows. urn the right carder ace up.Holding the cardersperpendicular to one another, begin to litthe ber ends extending rom the rontend o the right carder with the back teetho the let carder. When the ront end o the right carder meets the middle o thelet carder, push the teeth o the carderstogether briey so that the teeth o thelet carder can get a better grip. Ten you

can continue to gently lit the bers romthe teeth o the right carder. All the bersshould now be resting lightly on top o thelet carder (you may have a line o bersdown the middle that are more imbeddedin the teeth). Now you just have to secure

the bers in the teeth o the let carder,which you can do by pressing them downwith your hand, or with the back o theright carder.

Repeat the carding process as describeduntil the bers are straight and uniormlyopened. Generally, two or three timesthrough is sufcient.

o remove the wool rom the rightcarder when you arenished, just lit it as you did beore withthe teeth o the let carder. You can thenuse the teeth o the right carder to lit anyremaining wool rom the let carder to besure all the bers are ree. Tis time,though, there is no need to dig the teeth inor a better hold. You should now have alittle batt o wool resting reely on top o the teeth o the right carder.

Starting with the ber tips arthest

rom you, start rolling the wool jellyrollashion toward you. As you roll with yourngers, keep the ends o the roll romexpanding by controlling them with theheels o your hands. When you have thecigar shape completely rolled, pick it up,place it at the end o the carder arthestrom you again, and once more roll itdown toward you with just a bit o pres-sure. Tis second roll will help compact therolag and seal the ree edge o the roll so itholds its rounded shape.

You can make a basketul o rolags atyour leisure, and then sit down to spin.Pick one up, join the bers rom one endto your leader, and begin spinning. Whenyou near the end o one rolag, pick upanother, make a good join with the rst,and continue.

Once you understand the basic cardingprocess you will begin to see all sorts o possibilities or blending colors on thecarders. You can thinly layer the colors ontop o one another or place them side byside. Card thoroughly or a uniorm blend

and a heathered eect in your yarn. Cardless completely or a stippled eect. Ormake a basketul o colored rolags that youpick up randomly and spin or a variegatedeect. z

5

The bers will end up resting lightly on

the let carder.

When your wool appears to be evenly

divided between the carders, you will litand transer the remaining bers on the

let carder to the right carder

4

Use the edge o the right carder and yourlet hand to start rolling the rolag.

6




As a new spinner, I ound handcarding orlarge projects to be a tedious task. I beganto purchase roving and top to avoid the

carding process but was soon dissatised withboth the spinning and knitting o those prepareditems. Ten in 1978, my sisters, my daughter, andI entered a sheep-to-shawl competition and won aPatrick Green drumcarder. Tis event changed myoutlook orever. I now view the purchase o ber

and its preparation to be as much a part o the journey as the spinning and knitting.

Carding is a process o brushing clean bersover opposing sets o short wire teeth (cardclothing) to open and separate the bers into auniorm mass. Tis can be accomplished with aset o handheld cards, a small tabletop drumcard-er, or a very large industrial carding machine. Tesize o your carded mass will be determined bythe size o the carding device you are using. Card-ed bers produce woolen yarns that are sot, loty,uzzy, warm, bouncy, and lightweight. However,

woolen items made rom these yarns have a ten-dency to pill because o short bers that are notsecured in the spun yarn and so stick out o thewoolen yarn. In worsted-spun yarns, the bers aretucked inward as they are spun.

Understanding your drumcarder and what it iscapable o is important. Here are a ew things tolook at.

Card clothing (wire teeth)Examine the wire teeth on the drum. Are they

tall or short? Set close together or ar apart? Ihave counted as ew as 48 and as many as 240wires per square inch o card clothing on the vari-ous devices I own. Short wires, set close togetherare best or ne, shorter bers. Wires set artherapart are best or longer, coarser bers. Te tallerthe wire, the more ber the device can hold. Man-uacturers generally say how much ber a particu-lar carding machine can hold, but it is easyenough to gure that out by trial and error. Once

DrumcardingB y R o b i n R u s s o

swit (the main drum)

card clothing

licker-in

crank or handle

eeding tray

brush attachment




the drum is ull, it will begin to put ber onto thelicker-in. Te licker-in is the small cylinder on thedrumcarder that draws the ber onto the main(larger) cylinder. When that happens, stop card-ing. Te licker-in should only have short noilyber on it. You can also see when the drum hasreached its capacity. Te drum is ull when thebers uniormly blanket the teeth. I cardingcontinues when the drum is too ull, the ber

will transer back onto the licker-in, which iscounterproductive.

Drum adjustment

Are the drums adjusted properly? Do the teethmesh together or do they just barely touch? Temanuacturer may tell you what the adjustmentshould be on the equipment, but i not, you mustmake this determination yoursel. Most cardingmachines have screws or wing nuts that can beused to adjust the drums. Te teeth should notmesh, but should touch slightly. I reer to it as

“kissing.” Some manuacturers recommend slip-ping a piece o paper between the drums todetermine the correct distance.

Oiling

Oiling should be done according to the manu-

acturer’s specications. I you do not have aguideline, look or oiling ports (small holes locatednear the metal rotating assemblies). Plastic andnylon sleeve bearings generally do not requirelubrication. It is best to ask the manuacturerabout oiling beore you do so, just in case thereare parts that can be damaged by the oil. I useautomotive motor oil because it has a thickerviscosity than 3-in-1 oils or sewing machine oils

that have a tendency to run.

Drive band

On carding machines with a rubber or ure-thane drive band, I remove the drive band when itis not in use to prevent it rom “taking a set” (per-manent stretching). Also, be sure drive bands arewrapped correctly beore you card.

Carding process

Following a ew simple rules will help youproduce beautiul, carded batts or spinning or

elting with the least amount o eort.Fiber: Make sure your bers are clean. Tis

means washed, dried, and reasonably ree o cha or other barnyard materials. I you have inadver-tently elted your eece during the washing pro-cess, do not expect your drumcarder to rectiy the

seam in

card clothingdofer

1) Locks and teased ber. 2) Teased locks being ed into carder.3) Use the dofer to gently break the batt apart at the seam in the card

clothing. 4) Roll the batt of the drum using a paper towel tube. Photos by Robin Russo

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problem. Putting elted or very dirty ber throughyour drumcarder only puts stress on the wires o the card clothing, making it difcult or the carderto produce a good batt. Bending the wires willadversely aect the look and quality o your battsin the uture.

Picking: Pick or tease the bers so that thelocks are thoroughly opened up. You can do this

by hand or with a picker. Tis is not as time con-suming as you might think (unless you have eltedthe ber in the washing process!). I put my wool ina box on the oor in ront o my chair, and while Iam watching the news, I pull the bers apart with-out even looking at what I am doing. By the timethe news is over, I have a very ull box o uybers. Tis is especially important i you areblending two or more dierent types and/or col-ors o ber. Mixing them up at this stage saveslots o time at the drumcarder. Remember toweigh out your amounts so that uture batts will

have the same proportions as the rst.Feeding: Place small amounts o ber onto the

tray that eeds the ber under the licker-in, orsmall drum. Do not hold this ber back by placingyour hand on it. Tis will make the ber wraparound the licker-in. Te only bers that shouldaccumulate on the licker-in are the short, noilybers that you do not want on the main drum. I you have overloaded your tray, stop turning thedrum, pull back some o the ber, and then begincarding again.

Removing the batt: When the drum is ull,

remove the batt. Look or the break in the cardclothing on the large drum and move it to the topposition. Place your doer (the tool that looks likea thick ice pick) at an angle into the break andgently rock it up and down, breaking the battapart as you head toward the ar side o the drum.Once you have reached the ar side and the batt isbroken apart, use a paper towel tube or oam pipeinsulation (cut to the width o the drum) to wrapthe carded batt around as you roll it o the drum.I I have very ne, catchy bers in my batt, I alsouse a piece o tissue paper, winding it on the tube

with the ber to prevent the bers rom stickingonto one another as the batt is rolled o thedrum. Hold the tube or insulation against the

teeth as you roll, and this will do a great job o picking up the majority o bers on the drum. I you don’t have a tube to roll the bers onto, gatherthe “cut” edge o the batt and roll the drum or-ward so the batt is close to the wooden rame o the carder. I you pull the batt o against therame, it will usually wind o smoothly.

Round twoBreak down your batt into three or our length-

wise strips or layers and eed each piece back intothe drumcarder. I you want to blend the bersrom several batts, eed three or our strips (eachrom a dierent batt) or the new batt.

Finish

I your bers are clean and well picked, yourbatt may be ready or spinning. Hold it up to thelight and see how uniorm and clean it is, makingsure there are no noils or inconsistencies. I you

are not satised, divide the batt into three or ourpieces again and repeat the process. I your bersare well teased, this third round should be suf-cient to obtain a batt worth spinning.

When you sit down to spin, you will know i you did a complete enough job. Well-preparedbers spin easily into beautiul, consistent yarns.I your batts become disorganized during thespinning process, simply put them through yourdrumcarder again to reshen them or spinning.

Batts for felting

I use the same techniques or creating eltingbatts as I do or spinning, although elting tendsto be more orgiving o any inconsistencies thatmay occur. Te drumcarder is an essential tool ororganizing the bits and pieces o ber you createto lay out or a elting project. z

Robin Russo lives in Bradord, Vermont, where she spins,knits, elts, and explores bers and their many uses. Sheand her husband, Pat, also manuacture a line o productsor handspinners. Over the past twenty years, Robin hastaught at numerous gatherings o spinners, knitters, weav-ers, elters, and historical societies. When she isn’t workingas a paralegal, she enjoys spending time with her riends

and amily working out some new ber-related idea. Shehas three sisters, a daughter, and numerous nieces who allspin, knit, elt, weave, and love to play with ber.




MinicombsB y C a r o l H u e b s c h e r R h o a d e s

Many spinners preer spinning short orward drawrom combed ber to produce worsted yarnsthat are dense and smooth. However, many may

not want to invest in the large wool combs necessary orpreparing top at home. Minicombs and fick cards make itairly easy to prepare locks o ber or spinning yarns thatare not quite as dense or smooth as true worsteds spunwith short draw. I consider yarn spun short draw using

these preparations to be semiworsted. Because not allshort bers are removed, the yarns may have a bit o lotnot normally ound in a true worsted. Nonetheless, theseyarns are denser and less uzzy than the typical woolenyarn because the bers are kept relatively parallel duringpreparation and spinning.

Tere is disagreement among the experts about whatpreparation precedes short-draw spinning to achievesemiworsted yarns. Mabel Ross denes semiworsted yarnas “spun by the shortdraw method (including ‘point-o-contact’ style) but rom medium length bres either nottruly parallel, or containing short bres amongst thelong.”1 She lists drumcarded roving and rolags rolled sothat the bers remain parallel in addition to fick-cardedlocks as semiworsted preparations. Anne Field simply saysthat “semi-worsted yarn has the preparation o a woolenand the spinning method o a worsted yarn.”2 Alden Amossuggests spinning combed locks or sections o sliver romthe old or a semiworsted yarn.3

Minicombs are handheld tools with one or two rows o tines about 2 inches long. Te combs are 21 ⁄ 2 inches wideso only a small amount o ber is processed at a time. Tetines may be straight or slightly curved toward the han-dle. Tere are several brands o minicombs on the mar-

ket. Since they can costupwards o $75, it isworth trying out sever-al models i possible tond a set that eels com-ortable in your hands.Some models aredesigned so that the passive comb can be mounted, whichcan aid in removing the bers. For the smoothest roving,use double-row minicombs.

For a smooth but somewhat loty semiworsted yarn,

choose a clean ne to medium eece with well-denedlocks 2 to 4 inches long. Long and coarse bers can bedifcult to control and may bend the tines out o shape.Wash the eece so that the locks remain intact. I placeabout 1 ounce o locks, with all the tips acing the samedirection, into a plastic net bag about 6" × 12". Secure theopen end o the bag and submerge it in warm to hotwater (the greasier the eece, the hotter the water shouldbe) and woolwash. Between rinses, lit the bag out, roll itup, and gently squeeze out excess water. o lay out thewool or drying, remove layers o ber rom the bag sothat the locks stay parallel. Once the wool is dry, separate

it into small groups o locks. Fibers other than woolshould be washed and/or arranged in a similar manner.o protect the tines rom bending, use only bers thatare easily opened. I necessary, open tip and cut ends byhand, working rom side to side o the lock to maintainlock ormation.

1. o load the combs, catch the cut (butt) end o thebarely separated bers (too much teasing and the lockstructure is lost) in the tines so that only a very shortlength appears at the back (near the handle). 2–3. Layerthe bers until they cover about hal the height o thetines. Be sure that the bers don’t overow at the sideso the comb. With the empty comb’s tine tips, lit thebers away rom the base o the tines. Keep the bersaway rom the base as you work. I there is resistance asyou comb, remove some ber. Combing should be smoothand easy.

1Mabel Ross, Te Encyclopedia o Handspinning (Loveland, Colorado: InterweavePress, 1988), 154. See entries on semiworsted and woolly worsted yarns.2 Anne Field, Spinning Wool: Beyond the Basics (Christchurch, New Zealand:Shoal Bay, 1995), 88.3 Alden Amos, Te Alden Amos Big Book o Handspinning (Loveland, Colorado:Interweave Press, 2001), 166.




Hold the comb loaded with bers by placingthe handle in the palm o one hand and wrappingyour ngers toward you over the handle. Curlyour thumb around the end o the handle. I liketo work with my orearm resting on a paddedchair arm so that the passive comb remainssteady with tines upright. Te active comb is heldwith the tines perpendicular to theupright tines o the passive comb;the tines ace away rom you.

Grasp the empty comb’s handlein your palm with your thumbbracing against the loweredge o the wood tine base.

4. Begin combing bymoving the empty combaway rom you and throughthe outer (tip) ends o theber mass. 5. Te secondpass goes a bit deeper into thebers. Continue combing a littledeeper in with each pass o theactive comb but do not allow the

tines to touch as you get close to the baseo the bers. Te tines o each comb should be ata right angle to those o the other. Discard theshort, dirty wool let on the passive comb. I thecombed bers are getting out o control, removesome to save or another comb load.

Reverse hands on the combs so that you cancomb the bers just transerred to the comb thatwas originally empty. For me, the passive comb(with the ber) is always in my let hand and theactive one is in the right hand. Don’t orget to litthe bers away rom the base o the tines to pre-

vent the teeth nicking the wood and being dam-aged; it can also be tricky to comb through bersthat are drooping down at the base. Comb asdescribed above until the bers are aligned andmost i not all short bers are removed. Usuallythree or our transers prepare the bers well.

Te next step is removing the bers.Work slowly and gently—this step

takes practice to produce asmooth, even sliver (an

untwisted strand o pre-pared bers).6. Bring the ber tips intoa point. 7. Gently pull thepoint a ew inchestoward yoursel. For asmoother and more evensliver, pull the bers

through a diz (a disk witha small hole; a curved diz

should curvetoward the comb).

8–9. I possible, securethe comb by clamping it to

a table so that you can pull the bers,1 to 3 inches at a time, alternatinghands. When one hand has pulledthe ber orward, the other can movethe diz back toward the comb (nottoo ar or you won’t be able to pullthe bers through). I like to pull theber so that it is in proportion to thedesired yarn size—the ner thedesired yarn, the ner the sliver. I the ber is drated too ne, it will

Let: Lock o Cor-riedale wool rom

Whitesh BayFarm, Wisconsin;

roving prepared

on single-rowminicombs with

three passes anddrawn of without

a diz; semiworstedsock yarn spun

with a short or-ward draw on a

Schacht wheel ata ratio o 9:1 and

plied at 11:1—theresult is a 2-ply

yarn, 15 wraps perinch, about 1,520

yards per pound.

Minicombs,

while small,can be dangerous. Be sure

they are kept out o thereach o children and do

not leave them out withtines pointed upward.

Work careully so that youdon’t stab yoursel with the

tines, and keep your teta-nus shot up to date just in

case an accident occurs.

Safety

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4 5 6 7



just drit apart and i drated ner than your desiredyarn, you will have to spin multiple slivers together to getthe thicker yarn desired. Te preparation may take moretime, but the spinning will be a breeze.

You can let the sliver drop into a smooth box orbasket or onto the oor as you work. When all the berhas been removed, except or noils or tangled ber at thevery end (discard those bits), roll the sliver around yourhand into a little nest. As you do this, you add a small

amount o twist. Now you have a roving rom whichto spin.Minicombs can also be used or blending. 10. Alternate

layers o the bers to be blended, making sure you don’toverload the comb. I nd it is easiest to blend bers o equal length and diameter. I the bers are not the samelength, the longer ones will draw o rst and your rovingwill have mostly the longer ber in the rst hal and amix o primarily shorter bers in the second hal. Youmay need to do an extra transer or two or a thorough

blending or very little combing i you start with alreadycombed top. I you have single- and double-row combs,you can do a “rough” combing with the single-row combsand then nesse the blend with a transer or two on thedouble-row combs.

While minicombs won’t separate coarser rom nerbers in qiviut, cashmere, camel, or bualo as well ascommercial processes do, they certainly are more efcientor the task than removing the bers by hand. I you have

trouble spinning ne, slick luxury bers rom the locks,combing them or two or three transers will make it eas-ier to drat the bers when spinning.

Te keys to successul minicombing are clean, openber in small amounts and gentle work. You can spinwonderul yarn rom this preparation: smooth and evenbut with a nice hint o lot. z

Carol H. Rhoades o Madison, Wisconsin preers woolen yarnsor knitting but has to concede that semiworsted preparation andspinning yield lovely sock yarns. She’ll need lots more socks soon.

1)White Australian

Merino wool locks readyto use or combing; 2)“nest” o white Merino

roving drawn of combs

without a diz.

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2

12

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4

5

1) Samples o Merino and 2) baby alpaca tops and

3) rovings prepared on double-row minicombs;

4) raw camel and 5) two rovings o minicombedcamel (prepared on double-row combs).

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a guide to processing wool

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