Washing wool, lock by lock
My Mojo Sock is in time out, so I started a new sock out of Opal Wildflowers. It’s not very interesting to look at yet, as it’s just a plain sock. Instead of showing you a picture of a plain sock foot, I’m going to tell you about my exciting mail. This week I received a box from The Spinning Loft. The Loft is known for their selection of raw fleeces. The variety that Allison stocks is impressive, even including a new shipment of British breeds, imported from their homelands. When the box arrived, I dug under the bags of fiber to come up with the two books that I had...
read moreEverything’s coming up wooly
After what feels like a very long time, my life has turned back to the fibery side. I’d been very down about the way Spin-U turned out, so much so that I wasn’t really looking forward to what the future held for my personal spinning. I had signed up for Olds College Master Spinner Level 1, to be held in (fairly) nearby Smithtown. Completing either the Master Spinner courses, or a COE (Handweaver’s Guild of America’s Certificate of Excellence in Handspinning) has long been on my bucket list. When I saw the Master Spinner Level 1 course being offered less than an hour...
read moreThis is the way we wash our wool…
I wanted to detail how I washed this wool a little more, and since I took photos and video of the process now’s the time. I plucked out locks of wool, prime wool from the center back of the fleece and tucked them into tulle packets. Each of the locks was arranged in the same direction, with the brown tips facing up. I folded the tulle down over the top, then up from the bottom in a little envelope. I didn’t bother to seal the ends. I was out of safety pins, and knew that since I was only washing a few packets that it really didn’t matter. I filled the roasting pan with water...
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