Woolies

 Yes, the spinning was so soothing;  I almost forgot how relaxing it is!

 Sitting and letting the fibers flow through my fingers, just watching the hairs draft out and twist just so was delightful again! 

 I have a skein of 265 yards of DK weight yarn that is destined to be a hat.

 The colors will change from the lightest to darkest chocolate and back again...

 I'm glad the skein came out pretty balanced after such a long hiatus. 

 This was a sale bag from Paradise Fibers in the Mars colorway, 4 oz of medium grade wool.

  Just what the doctor ordered!

 As long as I was in a 'wool' mood, I dug out some Southdown wool I had bought way back in the beginning of the year;  I try to buy some wool that is new to me a few times each year.

(I save this sample for documentation for my own wool notebook, 

along with a spun sample and a knit sample.)

   I have been working through the Down breeds of sheep 

which are some of my favorites because they yield springy, bouncy yarns that are not too delicate to work with and yet are next-to-the-skin soft.

  Even if you do not process wool or spin it, it is now much easier to buy specific breeds of yarn 

so you can familiarize yourself with more than Merino and/or superwash yarns!  

 This 4 oz package of wool I bought on Etsy ha been washed but nothing else.

 First I grab a handful,

 and tease it-which just means I fluff out each bit as best as I can.

 This serves two purposes-it removes a LOT of bits of debris from the fiber and it allows for the chance to remove short pieces or nepps from the wool. 

 (Since the boys are not here to provide me with the exercise I have enjoyed with their care, 

I am making up creative ways to keep active-I squatted as long as I could to do this step-

working on my balance and stretching muscles!)

 Once teased , I then stand up to load it onto the carder and turn the crank.

 When the handfuls have covered the carder,

 I use this long sharpened tool called a doffer to separate the wool at this specific point on the drum so I can remove the 'batt' and then run it through again! 

 I sometimes do this several times to remove vegetable matter and to card the fiber into fluffier piles but because I tease it so well before carding only two runs are needed.

I now have another pile of wool ready for a good spin!  

This preparation  step is also very relaxing and a good way to mentally rest-

so many steps to spinning are slow which makes this a good way to practice patience. 

This used to be a benefit of many tasks a woman's day provided her but now it is a 'movement' called Slow;  slow cooking (means from scratch)  slow sewing (means handwork) or slow eating (means family meals!).  

Who knew ?