Hand Carding in the Garden

Carding wool is a very dusty job and when I am doing it I have to wear a substantial face mask to protect me from the dust and tiny wool fibres that are in the air.  I feel like someone doing a dangerous scientific experiment and all I am working with is wool!

This afternoon the weather was perfect for doing a few hours in the garden with just enough of a breeze to blow the dust away and not too much so my wool was not flying around the garden.   

This is a lovely grey fleece that I got from a farmer in Skreen.  It is so clean and soft it is a pleasure to work with.  Some of it is heading to Germany next week.

Before I worked with this fleece I carded some Alpaca,  Alpaca is so dusty to work with.  At the moment  I am carding a black fleece and I think that this Alpaca was out in a shower and then had a dust bath before she was shorn the fleece is so dusty that it is almost brown rather than black until I wash it after spinning.

Blue Faced Leicester Locks

A custom order for some B.F.L.  locks in shades of blue and purple. 

This fleece is one that a local farmer had thrown in the back of his shed.  He thought it was useless but it is perfect for locks as they are very fine and tightly curled.  It is very dirty but washes out fairly well.  The tight, fine curls are almost impossible to process to spin with as they knot up into tiny balls but it is lovely as locks.  They separate out easily but I only sell like this as I do not want to spoil the lock definition.

I dye them in lots of about 50 to 60 grams

Yarn from Dog Hair

 I have been a bit quiet recently,  not for lack of work with my wool but because I was having camera issues.   Back in action again.  This yarn is spun from Spitz dog hair which I blended with a little silk and some angora rabbit.  I spun it woollen and as a result it is very soft and has a lovely halo.   At the moment I am knitting it to make a cardigan for the dog owner's grandchild which is due early next year