Making memories one day at a time.......and then I write about it.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Charge It Please!

My Mum said the one thing she didn't like was carding the wool. A whole lot of effort and not a whole lot to show for it.

My last post I showed you the cleaning process. Which by the way, I found out last night in my class that I'm a little too zealous in my cleaning... I cleaned it so well there is no lanolin left. Some lanolin is good. Ahem. Oops. I can tell you with my kitchen smelling like a barnyard and my sink looking like a poo bath, I wasn't thinking about lanolin and preserving some. We're just lucky this isn't bleached wool....

So, here is my wool all dry and clean except for a bit of hay and grass seeds and...... no poo thank you very much.


Next step is to use this puppy. Looks like an evil torture device doesn't it?


There are two of them. One for each hand. This way I can comb Henny Penny's hair and one of her brothers at the same time in the morning. I'm all about multi tasking.....


You put your cleaned wool on one of these suckers. Those of you that are professional carders...... no mean comments please. I'm learning here! If I remember correctly, this is called, "charging the card". If you ask me, I like my way of charging the card better........


Going in the opposite direction with your other torture device you start to card away. The idea being you get all of the fibers going in the same direction and all the funky gunky out of your wool. That's the idea. Not sayin' that's what's happening here......


Pretty cool eh? My arms, shoulders, and muscles don't think so......


This is not a closeup of my wool. It's a closeup of the wood. That is some cool wood grain. Sorry, I got side tracked. It happens.


When you think you're done or you're just plain tired and your arms are begging for mercy you take the wool off of the little wires and this is what you end up with.

A whole lotta...... ummm...... well....... okay maybe not a lotta....... I begin to see what my Mum means.... Great. Chalk up another point for once again my Mum was right. I hate that! Well, unless it comes to The Native's and The SM. Then I'M always right.... it's a smug feeling.


After your wool is carded then you can do all sorts of things with it. You can dye it, you can start to spin it. This week we're learning to spin on a drop spindle before we learn to spin on a wheel. All I can say is name any war in history and it's got nothin' on what has been going on between me and this stupid spindle. I am bound and determined to conquer it though!

As for the carding...... I think Thomas Edison was brilliant when he invented electricity. They make electrical carding machines........ they're kinda pricey though so in the meantime, I'm building some killer muscles in my arms. By the time I'm finished with this venture, I will have mongoid muscles and will have dead on aim throwing the spindle.

The End.

P.S. The warped thing about this whole story... I'm actually enjoying this process....... now THAT'S scary.

8 comments:

  1. the kids dont' want to try? I loved doing this a pioneer places when I was younger

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  2. I love seeing the process! It reminds me why I like to buy nice, soft, clean, smooth skeins of yarn ;-)

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  3. I have owned cards for years. But the only thing I've ever carded is dog undercoat - seriously. I have Skye undercoat that I want to needle felt - when I learn how to do that. I'm SO GLAD that you are learning this so you can either A) teach me or B) do it FOR me.

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  4. The wool is so pretty. What a fun hobby!

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  5. LOLed my way through reading this post of yours. Upon hearing my laughter, Youngest Son ran over to see what was so funny on the 'puter. He looked at the pictures, and left quickly. I guess torture devices aren't his thing.

    I SO want to learn to process wool too! And spin it. My drop spindle is tucked away in a drawer, being ignored as I work up the courage to tackle learning its ways.

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  6. I have a big full of dog fur that I would love to make a toboggan hat for my husband with...oooh. Let me rephrase...I would love for you to make for me to give to my husband...

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  7. Marseille, It's like when you'd go to your friends house and help them clean their room. It was way funner cleaning their room than your own........ fun carding at a pioneer place...... not so fun if mom asks you. :)

    Korrie, It sure is making me appreciate the nice clean yarn that I buy!

    Tami, I have more to card! Wanna come charge? :D

    Kristen, Teach a man to fish.... feed himself for life..... teach you to card...... :D

    Jody, Yes, next is spinning this stuff. I have no idea what I am going to make because my yarn at present doesn't look like anything anyone would want to buy let alone make something out of! :D

    Anaise, It is actually... in an odd weird way.

    Wabi, Oh I wish we lived closer! We could learn together. Take a class. It's actually quite fun and I am learning heaps. I'm terrible at it, :) but I am learning heaps!

    Donna, :D My teacher said that for some reason dog smell doesn't ever come out of the yarn so you have to be really careful because other dogs can smell yoru dog in the yarn and she told me a story of a coat that was made and then shredded by another dog.... Hope your husband is tall so other dogs don't come and try to shred his hat or 'mark' their territory. :D

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