Back on the wool again

I have not been well - really bad cold - possible swine flu - stuck in the house.

I need to improve my wool techniques, so I decided to make the most of the time and practise preparing fibre for worsted spinning.

So I have washed some fleeces, got my dutch combs out and practised wool combing with Dutch combs and practised using a diz to making rovings - I am more pleased with my fibre preparation and am beginning to enjoy combing better than carding but my spinning is still not good enough. So I haven't dared to post any pictures of my sample yarns and I haven't posted any pictures of my rovings and fibre prep as I may want to use them in the body of work that I will be submitting for assessment. Below is a pic of some Masham - the curly one on the left and some Romney that I have scoured. They both came from the wool marketing board and I have to say that the Masham was a bit on the rough side - still - it will make good practise - I just hope that if I decide to use Masham I can get my hands on a good fleece for my final submission work.

Hampshire Down Sheep at Bakewell Show

I went to Bakewell Show in August and eagerly rushed over to the sheep section. There weren't very many breeds represented. There were more texels than anything other breed, and sadly most of these had been sprayed to highlight their conformation. (Sadly from a spinners point of view that is). There were quite a few jacobs, and a few other breeds, but more excitingly - there was a pen of young Hampshire Downs. They were dressed in lovely little jackets to protect their fleece. I took down the contact details from the breeders information board above the pen. I really wish all of the breeders would put up their contact details.

It has taken me three weeks to pluck up the courage to call about the possibility of getting a few fleece from this flock for my C of A. I was so glad I called. The flock owner was a very kind and helpful lady who was easy to speak to and was pleased to hear from someone who was interested in the fleece. She has no fleeces from this years shearing - but I have left my contact details for next time. Hampshire Down are a particularly cute breed of sheep. I haven't spun a fleece from this breed before and I just hope that when I finally get my hands on a fleece - I am not disappointed and find it suitable for my C of A.

Fibre Stash

I have been collecting different fibres for spinning practise for my Certificate of Achievement. Here is a picture of my stash. There is alpaca, possum, yak, cotton (in various forms), lots of silk - caps, bricks, throwsters waste, filament, cocoon strippings - all sorts, flax line and tow, tencel, ramie, viscose and nylon. I have also got about 14 fleeces in the shed waiting to be picked over and cleaned. Hopefully, by the time I have worked my way through this lot, I should be pretty darn good at spinning just about anything.

Registered and eager to start - but where? Wool, cotton, flax, silk or something else?

I have now got to start on my portfolio of samples. A range of yarns in various thicknesses, appropriate for the fibre being spun and the use to which it will be put. Singles and plied yarns to be included & all hanks to be at least 100m in length.

As I usually spin wool, this would seem the most sensible place to start - but there are so many combinations to consider:

Wool - to be spun woollen and worsted as appropriate.

1. short wool and down
2. long wool and lustre
3. mountain and hill

I am beginning to think that it may be easier to start with flax!