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Author Topic: Carder or combs  (Read 8730 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2016, 12:34:50 pm »
I found that blending on a drum carder seemed to muss up the fibres, undoing all the previous prep.  With a blending board you have control of where each fibre goes so you can make stripey rolags, or you can blend fibres together really thoroughly.  When you then take the fibres off the board as rolags, they are just as you laid them on there.  Using two sticks, you partially pull the batt through the teeth which helps to realign all the fibres and make all those scrummy, tight rolags.  They are much easier to spin than normal light fluffy rolags.  before I tried it, I though I wouldn't like how tight they are, but I really do.  The singles spun seem more even too.


Sounds like you'll be getting a blending board then Polyanya  :roflanim:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Polyanya

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Shetland
    • The Creative Croft
    • Facebook
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2016, 02:44:57 pm »
Looks like I'm going to have to  :excited:
In the depths of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer - Camus

www.thecreativecroft.co.uk

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2016, 12:22:27 pm »
I do not have a blending board but I do use a large hand card as one. I can do it in front of the telly too.

Polyanya

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Shetland
    • The Creative Croft
    • Facebook
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #18 on: December 31, 2016, 09:37:47 am »
Well Santa left me  the combs ( mini louet single row ) and do you know I just haven't had a chance to try them out yet  :(. Once all the family returned to their own homes I got busy cutting squares for a new quilt we need. The house is also looking so nice and tidy I haven't the heart to to bring out all the bags of fleece, although I am a little nervous the tines seem so fragile  :thinking:.
In the depths of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer - Camus

www.thecreativecroft.co.uk

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #19 on: December 31, 2016, 10:31:55 am »
I know how you feel. I was willing my guests to go home so that I could try out the new loom :-)
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #20 on: December 31, 2016, 11:44:07 am »
I am a little nervous the tines seem so fragile  :thinking:.
Congratulations on your gift! 

Just take care to not clash the tines together when you comb.  And don't overload the comb, and don't push the fluff right down to the bottom of the tines.  You'll be fine.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Polyanya

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Shetland
    • The Creative Croft
    • Facebook
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2017, 11:24:20 am »
Oooh now I'm really scared  :o
In the depths of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer - Camus

www.thecreativecroft.co.uk

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #22 on: January 12, 2017, 11:39:13 pm »
Don't be scared.  Try something lovely and not too long on them - Shetland maybe ;). You will love spinning the result. :)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #23 on: February 10, 2017, 01:18:06 pm »
Have read this thread with great interest! After years of pressure, my OH finally got round to making a hay feeder for the sheep and the rescue pony, to reduce the wastage you get from just placing hay on the ground. Unfortunately, the result of this is a large quantity of hay getting stuck in the sheep's fleece - especially the neck area. The adult Shetlands have such dense fleece, the bits of hay don't really penetrate, but I have high hopes of the fleece from my new Shetland and Shetland/Leicester Longwool cross and they are full of bits of hay  >:(

I have hand carders and a drum carder, but I'm wondering if combs are the best way to get the bits of hay out of their fleece? I'm a member of the local Guild so may be able to borrow some. Any other suggestions gratefully received! (I would post a gratuitous cute picture of said lambs but can't remember how to do it and can't make it work at the mo!)
Where are we going - and why am I in this handcart?

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #24 on: February 10, 2017, 02:31:07 pm »
First off, ditch the badly contaminated neck wool.  It really isn't worth trying to pick out all the hay, and you'll never get it all anyway.  You could spoil a special project by trying to save those bits.


How easy it is to get hay out also depends to some extent on how greasy and crimpy a fleece it.


But yes, I would say combs are the way to go, and see how you get on.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Blackbird

  • Joined Jul 2012
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #25 on: February 12, 2017, 11:19:25 am »
Thnak FW - will see if I can borrow combs from the Guild and if I decide to buy, can use the excellent guide in this thread to the different sorts of combs available .
Where are we going - and why am I in this handcart?

Polyanya

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Shetland
    • The Creative Croft
    • Facebook
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #26 on: February 14, 2017, 03:45:12 pm »
Well I must say having tried the mini Louet combs I am impressed at the amount of detritus they can get rid of - more than the drum carder however it takes an age  ::)
In the depths of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer - Camus

www.thecreativecroft.co.uk

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #27 on: February 14, 2017, 11:08:24 pm »
Most preparation takes longer than the actual spinning.

Polyanya

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Shetland
    • The Creative Croft
    • Facebook
Re: Carder or combs
« Reply #28 on: February 16, 2017, 09:11:12 pm »
Too right!  :D
In the depths of winter, I found there was in me an invincible summer - Camus

www.thecreativecroft.co.uk

 

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