The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Bionic on August 09, 2016, 08:46:23 am
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My spinning group always attend the Llandovery sheep festival giving demo's.
I took a phone call yesterday asking if we would take part in a sheep to shoulder event where people see the sheep being shorn in the morning and then over 2 days we card, spin and make something to wear.
I said we would give them an answer on whether we would take part in the next couple of days but before then I would like to know how many people would it take and how realistic is it to produce something?
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I expect you will get some more detailed responses from people who have done this, but at Fibre East they had about 5 spinners producing to feed one weaver. She was making a shawl I think.
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I expect you will get some more detailed responses from people who have done this, but at Fibre East they had about 5 spinners producing to feed one weaver. She was making a shawl I think.
So its going to take quite a few people. Not sure if I can enlist that many.
I know SITN has done something similar so hopefully she can add some more info later.
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We went for maximum participation, and we knitted ours. We sheared the sheep at 10am, carded, spun, knitted squares (using singles on big pins) and stitched them together, and by 4pm we had our shawl. Approx 45 people were involved, we think about 150-ish person hours in all.
It would be much quicker weaving, I think - but do a trial/ sample, because you'll use more yarn for woven, I suspect. You could weave a Lacey pattern, I s'pose...
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Its a great idea Sally .... and festival could do with something different going on which is fleece focussed . Could you contact other spinning groups to join in? (Carmarthen?)
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Teams that do this competitively have 5 or 6 people, start with everyone spinning, then as soon as there are two half-bobbins, one starts plying. They can make a waistcoat in 5 or 6 hours :o
When doing a woven garment, I'm not sure if anyone warps as part of the exercise, or whether they'd start with the loom already dressed. For a demo event, I'd think you could get away with having the loom warped up, ready.
Of course, 'something to wear' could be wrist warmers or a cowl, doesn't have to be a shawl. We couldn't resist 'Sheep to Shawl on the Wall'; it'd have been easier if our event had been at Windy Gowl or Fisherman's Cove... ;p
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Its a great idea Sally .... and festival could do with something different going on which is fleece focussed . Could you contact other spinning groups to join in? (Carmarthen?)
We had people coming from all our surrounding Guilds and groups, and a few further out too. I think we said 6 Guilds were represented, including Edinburgh and Walsall! If you can make it participative, people will travel to take part - ours was a day all of us will remember for the rest of our lives.
You can read the story of how we went about it on Wovember linky (https://wovember.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/sally-antill-soft-fell-sheep-and-their-fleece-1/)
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Fabulous link Sally. I will send it to the rest of the spinners to give them some food for thought.
Linda, I believe that other groups of spinners are going to be contacted because they wanted to make it a competition i.e. one group against another but even if they don't/can't do that it would still be interesting for our group to do it anyway.
Spoken to the rest of the spinners this afternoon and most of them are up for it although there are some that are worried about it being unwashed fleece. Ah well, you have to die of something.....
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You may find it's less the health risks of unwashed fleece and more the gunk on their wheels.
Because of ours being a mass participation event, we reluctantly decided to use washed fleece. So although we waited for the sheep to be hand clipped, in fact we used a similar fleece that had already been clipped, washed and dried. Personally I'd rather use it straight from the sheep.
You might be able to arrange to use only drum carders that are used for greasy fleece, and similarly hand carders. Otherwise, here's how to clean up the drum and hand carders afterwards. You'll need some washed, spare fleece. Wet some with meths and card it until the tines are all sparkly clean. Then card some more of the washed fleece, without any meths, to clean off the meths!
Meths will likewise clean any grease off wheels afterwards. And again, finish with a clean dry cloth to remove any remaining meths.
Places on wheels to specifically clean are of course the path the yarn takes, so orifice and hooks, but also the flyer shaft and bearings. And for the pernickety who don't usually spin in the grease, also the drive wheel bearings.
I find a bit of grease in the fleece helps to keep the wood fed, so I guess that means that there may be grease will want wiping off (using meths) of any lacquered surfaces.
Do let us know how you get on, Sally! After our escapade, a competitive one has kind of got to be our next challenge...
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Another thing would be to place a big pack of baby wipes next to each crafter so they could be as pernickety as they like and keep their hands immaculate. Also for members of the public who want to feel the fleece.
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Sally, thankyou for the tips on cleaning the drum carder. I had ruled out a drum carder because I thought I wouldn't be able to clean it afterwards.
fleecewife, the baby wipes tip is a good one also.
The event isn't until the end of Sept so we have some time to plan
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If you were going to weave something, you would either need the loom warped up first or used plied for the warp which would obviously take a bit longer. What about crochet for speed?
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Another thing would be to place a big pack of baby wipes next to each crafter so they could be as pernickety as they like and keep their hands immaculate. Also for members of the public who want to feel the fleece.
Check your insurance, but we've been told that we must have water, actual soap and hand towels wherever members of the public would be handling raw fleece. ::) I have a squirty antibacterial handcleaning spray too, then they can choose which they want to use.
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A problem for other groups joining in might be if it's over two days.
I know I'd travel for one long day out but two is difficult, Not impossible but exhausting. Still have to do the rest of the work at each end of the days.
Would be fun though. :)
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Another thing would be to place a big pack of baby wipes next to each crafter so they could be as pernickety as they like and keep their hands immaculate. Also for members of the public who want to feel the fleece.
Check your insurance, but we've been told that we must have water, actual soap and hand towels wherever members of the public would be handling raw fleece. ::) I have a squirty antibacterial handcleaning spray too, then they can choose which they want to use.
I think we have already decided that members of the public won't touch the raw fleece but that we will have some washed fleece available separately if they want to have a go. Can't be too careful with things like that.
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Can't you wash (and blow dry) the sheep before shearing? I know that legally it would still be classed as raw fleece, but it might help with some of the gunk... (I have a photo somewhere where my friend is shampooing a lamb in the sink for a photo shoot!)
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Can't you wash (and blow dry) the sheep before shearing? I know that legally it would still be classed as raw fleece, but it might help with some of the gunk... (I have a photo somewhere where my friend is shampooing a lamb in the sink for a photo shoot!)
Sounds ridiculous, but in fact it's what they used to do! We have a 'sheepwash' just below our farm entrance - the sheep would be sent across the 'wash' (pool in fast-flowing water, just deep enough to submerge a sheep) on a dry, blowy day, and sent out into the big meadow to be wind-dried. Then clipped the next day or so.
It won't remove the grease, though, and, much more relevantly, it won't remove any orf or other nasties either. You would have to get some detergent into the fleece for that.
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I think the 'back to back' challenge was on tv a couple of years ago, in Norway maybe.
here you go , found the bookmarked link
https://tv.nrk.no/serie/national-knitting-eve/dvnr30004613/01-11-2013
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I've started to watch is and it's very interesting. Two hours long though so I will watch it in parts.
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You would have to get some detergent into the fleece for that.
That's what I meant - use shampoo. Should be gentle enough for the sheep. Would have to be a rather placid animal, though! :D
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Just spoken to the people organising this and raised the issue of the raw fleece. Apparently another group has flagged up the same problem.
Anyway, they are happy for us to wash a fleece beforehand. On the day, once the sheep has been shorn, we will then start preparing the washed fleece.
We are going to have a notice up explaining about the health and safety issue so that visitors understand.