October 15, 2014

Opalyn:


With the addition of Angora Rabbits to our fiber production staff, I have started blending Sweet Pea's angora wool with Luna's sheep wool. Angora wool is extremely warm and is great for small items like a scarf or gloves but if you want to make a sweater then blending it with sheep's wool means you don't have to take it off the minute you step inside.

Since this can be a confusing topic to write/read about, here is an introductory video Andrew and I did to show how to spin singles on a homemade spindle using pure sheep's wool.

Once you get things going, you draft or pull small amounts of fiber then allow the twist into the thinned area.

Drafting fiber into desired thickness.

I blended the angora and sheep wool on a friend's drum carder and started spinning on one of my home made spindles. I started with a leader: any stable thread or yarn attached to the spindle's stick (below the whorl of a top whorl spindle) and brought it up through the hook. This thread allows twist to be stored then transferred to the drafted fibers.

Winding singles onto the spindle.

Spinning a singles.

Close-up of drafted fibers.

Oops! Drafted too thin!

Lay the fibers against the leader fibers and catch the fibers back into the single.

Keep on spinning :)