I have a bunch of wool right off of the sheep. It is all dirty and I want to spin it. I know how to do the spinning part, but what are the steps before that? I need to do this manually and with the least amount of money! Thanks!
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Washing and Scouring – The next step in the process is washing (scouring) the wool to remove grease (unrefined lanolin), vegetable matter and other impurities which gather in the wool from the range, feedlot, or shearing floor. The first wash waters are warm-up to 140 degrees F – and the rinses are cold. Then squeeze rollers and a hot-air drying chamber bring the moisture content to the right level for the next step in processing.
Blending and Dyeing – Each wool fiber absorbs dyes so deeply that dyeing at any processing stage is equally effective and durable. Wool dyed immediately after it is scoured (washed) and blended is stock-dyed. Spin it into yarn first and then it’s yarn-dyed. Weave it into a piece of fabric and then it is piece-dyed.
Carding – The carding process passes the clean and dry wool through a system of wire rollers to straighten the fibers and remove any remaining vegetable matter. The rollers vary in diameter and turn at different speeds in order to form a thin web of aligned fibers. Smooth steel fingers then divide the web and roll the strands over onto one another to create narrow continuous ropes of fibers called “slivers”.
This location has great carding tools: http://www.ashford.co.nz/carding/carding-frameset.htm
And then your Spinning
Easiest way, and the way I do it with my ultra fine wool, is to take a flicker brush or dog slicker brush and brush each end of each lock and spin it in the grease then wash the skein after you have it spun.
Other people wash the wool, tease it out after it is dried, then card it.
I use the cheapest people shampoo on the shelf to wash wool. Run the bowl full of very hot water and stir in a lot of the shampoo and toss your wool on top of it. Don’t agitate it much if any at all. Scoop the wool out to drain place while you change the water. Do about 2 or 3 shampoo waters, then do rinse waters til the wool is no longer soapy. Final rinse before drying it is people hair conditioner!
Never, never run water directly on Wool!! It will felt it.
To clean the orifice of your wheel after you have spun grease wool, take a q-tip and dip it in rubbing alcohol and clean the orifice of your wheel. May take 2 or 3 q-tips to do this. I clean mine once a week.
You may email me for more information. Click my avatar. I am also known to some people as the “Wool Lady”.
You need to get the worst of the dirt off and sort it throw away the stiff short hairs and the ‘skirtings’ (manured bits ) can be got off with cold water
sort into grades by sight and feel – put the different qualities into cloth pr paper bags not plastic keep it cool so the oil doesnt dry out and spin as soon as possible.
Tease out the wool by hand and get rid of anything that is not wool
and then card it with carders – they can be fierce so be careful you can buy small ones from a knitting shop or even use teasels but if you want to play with spinning a lot you may as well buy some – It is easier to spin if you wash it after spinning as the lanolin in the wool makes it slippier (and your hands softer)
Card it till it is clean and wispy and follow the directions for making it into a spinnable rolag.
It is good to wear a heavy apron whilst you are wrestling with the dirty part of cleaning it up amd sorting the staples.
If you got the fleece from a fence it may be harder to spin and you might want to mix it in with some easier bought wool fleece because the length of staples varies so you would need to examine what you have and play with it as parts of the sheep are easier to spin than others
I would get a book from the library about the carding process or join your local spinners guild.
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