Fleece Washing.

Fleece washing is not the most exciting job to do, but it has to be done, and I will have to be doing a lot of it over the next few weeks. It is a dirty sometimes smelly job. I like the smell, if this makes me a bit weired whats new. I like the smell of sheep. It uses a lot of hot water and elbow grease but a good job done now can save you a lot of work later. And effect the end result of your spinning.
When you collect as many fleeces as I do it is not unusual to find that you have some unwashed fleeces from last year. This is what happened to me so I have started on last years first, before the new fleeces start coming in. Many people ask me where my fleeces come from. All I can say is that over the years I have become known as some one who will buy a good fleece. It is all word of mouth mainly through the Bucks Guild of WS&D's. It pays to spend time developing contacts. I was contacted out of the blue buy the person who sold me my horse 12 years ago. She has 25 Black Welsh Mountain sheep and wants to know if I want any fleeces. Sometimes contacts go back a long way.
When I wash a fleece I divide it up into 3 or 4 lots depending on the size. This is to make it  manageable. If there is a lot of variation in the fleece you can put different quality of wool in each lot.
The next stage is to soak the wool in tap hot water and washing up liquid , not to much or it will be difficult to rinse out. But you need enough to get the grease out. This will vary from fleece to fleece. If the wool is very dirty after an hours soak I change the water add more washing up liquid and soak for 24 hours. Don't be tempted to agitate the wool or you will felt it.
The next stage is rinsing. I use  cold water and I am lucky enough to have an old stand alone spin dryer which does not felt the wool and makes rinsing easier if you spin between each rinse. The fleece is then spread out on my chicken shed to dry. You can use onion bags or anything you have to hang it on a washing line, or any method that is easy for you. Not a tumble dryer or artificial heat. This will felt and shrink the wool.Don't risk your washing machine or you will really be in trouble and wreck it.
I do not worry if all the dirt is not washed out. Any dirt that won't come out with carding or spinning is discarded with the fleece. I always wash the skeins I spin to set the twist so no dirt should survive all that.

The unplaned project.

I have had the most horrible cold and have not felt like doing much of anything for nearly a week. This has given me some time to think about how I am going to finish the pinafore top I wrote about last time. I do have enough of the recycled mohair and Shetland mix to finish the bands and straps, it's the triangle panels of the skirt that are the problem.

At first I was using a madder dyed pink fleece, (Oxford Down) hand carded and spun with some space dyed pink, red silk. I rolled the silk into the rolag before spinning and was very pleased with the results. Then as I ran out of fleece I had to think again. Fortunately there was some similar coloured fleece in my stash but the method of spinning did not suit it so well. It was not labeled so I dont' know what it is. There's a lesson to remember LABEL EVERY THING. It's not hard and can save you a lot of trouble.

This fleece worked better if I spun it straight no carding. Then I spun a single of silk and plied them together. The colours link these two different yarns enough for me to work them into the pattern of the piece. At least I hope they will. Watch this space for the finished article and judge for yourself.

How much better it would have been if I had put a bit more thought into the planning of the piece in the first place and made sure I had enough of every thing to start with. Still it will be a unique garment that's for sure.

Plannig a project

The correct way to plan a project goes as follows.
Select a piece you want to make.
Select a suitable fleece.
Weigh up the amount needed.
Prepare as necessary.

Spin the fleece.
Make your piece.
Unfortunately it rarely happens that way with me. Usually I will find a fleece I like and can't wait to spin some up. Then I have spun wool that I have to find a project for. Running out of yarn is common,if I'm lucky I will have more of the same fleece. Some times I have to substitute, It may work it may not. Either way I am spinning as I knit. Not an ideal situation.
This time I undid a jumper that never really worked. I hate to waste yarn so I always reuse where I can. This is a mohair shetland mix that I spun ages ago, it will make the borders for a pinafore top. The inserts had to be spun from scratch. Yes you've guessed it I have run out of wool. The story gets more complicated so I will carry on with it next time.

Guild Day

Saturday was one of my favorite days of the month,  a meeting of The Bucks Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. For anyone who doesn't know there is a national association ofWS&D's and most county's have a branch. The Bucks Guild meets in Amersham on the first Saturday of the month. We have talks, workshops and practical days when we all work together and learn from each other. It's great to spend time with like minded people sharing ideas. If you want to know more and would like to see the events programme, go to www.bucksinfo.net/spinnersweaversanddyers. Visitors are always welcome.

This month we had Bobbie Britnell talking about her work and inspirations. She was a very  entertaining speaker and showed us some of her lovely art inspired quilts.

Some of the things she said about following your instincts to find the true artist in you rang a bell with me. I never believed I could be a true artist and always thought I was hopeless with colour and would never be able to design anything. So I just made what I liked, and that was it. That is how I found my way.Gaining confidence when other people liked my work as well. Not that everyone likes what I do all the time. It can be crushing when you have put a lot of work into something and the first person you show it to doesn't like it. Now I know someone will sometime. Even if they don't I know that I have made something I am proud of. I have tried to make things I don't like just to be commercial and make a sale. That never works. If I have to do that be be a success it's a lost cause and I will be poor and happy.

The cushion cover in the picture is a case in point. Not many people like it so it will properly be with me for ever. That is no hardship because I love it.

worsted spinning blueface leicester

One of the projects I have on the go at the moment is a smock top knitted in worsted spun Blueface Leicester. I don't often buy tops as I prefer to spin from the fleece. But I was tempted by some beautiful BfL from Wingham Wool.
When I do buy tops I usually spin them as they are because if you pay extra for prepared wool it seems a waste to do any thing to them. I do know that you can blend them for colour, or with other fibers. Because they have been prepared so well you can get very good results. But I chose to spin straight from the top, worsted.
I used my double drive Haldane wheel which has a ratio of 11:1 on the whorl I was using. This meant I was putting in 11 twists per inch and I spun at 25 wraps per inch. Sometimes I find it difficult to spin evenly from tops so I developed my own method. Pull of a length of roving from the top. Brake off a small length, it will break naturally at the staple length of the fleece. Pull this piece out width ways keeping the fibers straight. It is now easy to spin an even worsted yarn.
The result was a strong cord like yarn, very little stretch or bounce but lots of luster.
If you want to spin a woolen yarn, bend the piece you have broken of over your index finger and spin from the middle of it. This will give you a semi woolen finish. Or card the top into a rolag for a totally woolen spun yarn.
The pattern I am using starts with four rows of garter stitch before continuing in stocking stitch. It was not supposed to role up but it did. I think this is because of the high degree of twist in the yarn. This is always  something to take into consideration when you are using hand spun in a commercial pattern. I did eight rows of garter stitch and all is well.