Fibre Prep

Fibre preparation

Jacob Fleece Spinning + Plying

by

This is some of my Jacob fleece, which I have hand carder (I don’t think I’m very good at it…), then hand spun and plyed. I’m actually very impressed with myself, being as I only got the tools yesterday! I think when I spun the singles I over twisted? Comments?

This is some of Corriedale Silver which I have also Spun and Plyed. It has a smoother finish than the Jacob, but I think this is down to the quality of my carding not the wool. Again it seems over twisted, but I wonder if washing it and setting the twist will improve this?

Jacob Fleece Washing…

by


I washed some of the fleece today, as my new hand carders and spindle arrived in the post. It hasn’t come very clean, so I might try teasing the fibres more first, and maybe different detergent, as this had 3 washes and rinses in very hot water.


I also thought I’d try some spinning, which is going surprisingly well I think. The first batch is Corriedale Silver in Dark Purple.


This is the second batch in White, work in progress.

I will have to try and card some of the Jacob, then I can try and spin it… :-s

Jacob Fleece

by

Today I collected some Jacob Fleece from Tamsyn G.
It looks lovely, and Tamsyn has kindly picked out most of the VM which I am very thankful for.


Jacob’s are white with well defined black (dark patches), they produce a medium quality fleece, with micron count 30-33 and staple length 3″-7″, average fleece weight 2-3Kgs.


The fleeces I have are a mixture of off white, light brown, dark brown and black wool. Hopefully next weekend I will get time to wash a selection and have ago at hand carding it. (My new hand carders are expected to arrive this week.) I think I will try washing some with and without the lanolin removed to see how it spins up.

I’m determined to try and use this wool undyed and take advantage of the natural colours.
Watch this space…