Living and Learning
Let's just say that some things are inevitably going to be learned the hard way. Like not sticking your tongue on frozen metal in winter or not sticking car keys into an electrical outlet or how to ruin perfectly good fleece. Some types of trouble are just so easy to get into and impossible to get out of! I found all this out over the weekend when I set up my Made Well drum carder to tackle some fleece.
That white Icelandic has been sitting in the wash bags in my office for almost a month now and since I have some other fiber I want to wash, I figured the sensible thing to do was empty the bags and card it up.
I readily admit to being a raw novice with washing fiber and I found out what not to do with it by carefully going over in my mind how I washed this Icelandic. There probably isn't anything wrong with washing fiber several times but I'm pretty sure the water I used was far too hot and that moving the bags at all in water that hot is sure to felt it because that was pretty much what I found as I zipped open the bags and tried to handle the fleece; lumps and matts of fiber cement! Several of the bags were not complete matts so I carefully separated the fiber, opening it enough to run it through the carder.
That white Icelandic has been sitting in the wash bags in my office for almost a month now and since I have some other fiber I want to wash, I figured the sensible thing to do was empty the bags and card it up.
I readily admit to being a raw novice with washing fiber and I found out what not to do with it by carefully going over in my mind how I washed this Icelandic. There probably isn't anything wrong with washing fiber several times but I'm pretty sure the water I used was far too hot and that moving the bags at all in water that hot is sure to felt it because that was pretty much what I found as I zipped open the bags and tried to handle the fleece; lumps and matts of fiber cement! Several of the bags were not complete matts so I carefully separated the fiber, opening it enough to run it through the carder.
Admittedly, at first glance, this doesn't look too bad, right? Wrong! It seems this fiber is made up of two fibers; soft fluffy down and longer hair-like fiber. It should have occurred to me, after working with llama fiber, that the long hair part should be pulled out and thrown away, but I was so fixated on getting it washed, I never even thought about separating the two. I just assumed Icelandic hair was fine enough to incorporate into the mix. D'uh! Not brilliant!
Secondly, after carding this wool a bit I noticed a pile of white bits building up under the carder. Upon closer inspection, and after pulling the small batt off the carder, I realized these were simply broken pieces of fiber. The wool was now so brittle it was simply disintegrating from being carded.
I held the batt up to the light and it's plain to see the felted wads and long bits of stringy hair. Every where I set it down there was a dusting of fiber bits. With a heavy heart I wadded it all up and tossed the whole lot in the trash. It all added up to a total disaster, barring the fact that I HAD actually learned something from all this. I learned that asking advice on a Yahoo Group is a great way to get good information from experienced fiber fanatics on alternate ways to wash fleece. By this, I mean ways that won't totally destroy it! LOL! I think the best advice I got was that with very dirty fleece it's OK to start with a hot sudsy bath, just don't change the water frequently - or at all. It's better to let it soak for a day or even two in the same soapy water even when it's cold. It won't hurt the fiber to soak that long and it will likely come clean on it's own - no agitation. This was a completely new concept to me and I will certainly keep it in mind the next time I decide to try again. I will, however, need to use a plastic tub instead of my kitchen sink to do this as I can't see the family putting up with a sink full of sheep-smelly fiber through several meal times! *sigh!* It felt like a very long morning!
Secondly, after carding this wool a bit I noticed a pile of white bits building up under the carder. Upon closer inspection, and after pulling the small batt off the carder, I realized these were simply broken pieces of fiber. The wool was now so brittle it was simply disintegrating from being carded.
I held the batt up to the light and it's plain to see the felted wads and long bits of stringy hair. Every where I set it down there was a dusting of fiber bits. With a heavy heart I wadded it all up and tossed the whole lot in the trash. It all added up to a total disaster, barring the fact that I HAD actually learned something from all this. I learned that asking advice on a Yahoo Group is a great way to get good information from experienced fiber fanatics on alternate ways to wash fleece. By this, I mean ways that won't totally destroy it! LOL! I think the best advice I got was that with very dirty fleece it's OK to start with a hot sudsy bath, just don't change the water frequently - or at all. It's better to let it soak for a day or even two in the same soapy water even when it's cold. It won't hurt the fiber to soak that long and it will likely come clean on it's own - no agitation. This was a completely new concept to me and I will certainly keep it in mind the next time I decide to try again. I will, however, need to use a plastic tub instead of my kitchen sink to do this as I can't see the family putting up with a sink full of sheep-smelly fiber through several meal times! *sigh!* It felt like a very long morning!
I couldn't bear ending the morning on such a depressing note so I hauled out another carding job I've been wanting to get around to. I have several pounds of 100% alpaca fiber from Victoria's Fibers of Winnipeg (don't know if she's still around) and some 100% Polwarth roving from Wild Geese that I've been wanting to blend together. I know that camelids like llama and alpaca have very poor memory, even though they're very soft and warm. That means if you knit something from them it has a tendency to sag like 100% cotton does. If you blend it with even just 30% wool, the wool helps overcome that sagging issue. This Polwarth is absolutely baby-bottom soft so the two blend up into an smooshy buttery fiber! They are both a natural dark brown, the alpaca being a slightly lighter shade so when I carded it up it was easy to see if it wasn't blended well enough. I weighed out bundles of approx 4 ounces in a 60/40 blend and carded them with great pleasure, after the hideous mess the Icelandic was!
The batts came out so pillowy soft! As near as I can figure my drum carder's capacity is about one ounce because 4 batts make approx 4 ounces. I'm almost finished the whole lot and will have 8 four ounce bags when I'm done. I'm going to list them in my Etsy shop. I still have about 8 to 10 ounces of Polwarth left which I'm going to spin up myself.
When I'm finished this carding job I'm going to do the same with some greyish-brown Alpaca fiber and some greyish-brown Polwarth but I have much less of them to card. In case you're wondering, Polwarth is a cross-bred sheep, 75% Merino and 25% Lincoln. It seems to me the fleece has retained more of the Merino qualities than the Corriedale, which is also a Merino cross-breed. I don't know why there's such a fuss over Corriedale as I have yet to come across Corriedale fiber that impressed me. Smother me in Polwarth any day! LOL!!
So I guess some things you learn best by doing but sometimes I wish it was just as easy to undo them! Baby steps before running, I guess! Cheers all!
When I'm finished this carding job I'm going to do the same with some greyish-brown Alpaca fiber and some greyish-brown Polwarth but I have much less of them to card. In case you're wondering, Polwarth is a cross-bred sheep, 75% Merino and 25% Lincoln. It seems to me the fleece has retained more of the Merino qualities than the Corriedale, which is also a Merino cross-breed. I don't know why there's such a fuss over Corriedale as I have yet to come across Corriedale fiber that impressed me. Smother me in Polwarth any day! LOL!!
So I guess some things you learn best by doing but sometimes I wish it was just as easy to undo them! Baby steps before running, I guess! Cheers all!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/18/2010 3:34 PM 
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: ruined fleece icelandic fiber blending fiber carding
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: ruined fleece icelandic fiber blending fiber carding
So sorry you had to learn the hard way! But so great that you have a drum carder and can take these opportunities to learn in stride
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Believe me, if I cried over every big mistake I'd really go through the kleenex! LOL! Yes, having a drum carder is a big consolation. I think of it a bit like having a sports car - you don't use it often but when you do ooooh la la!
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