Author Topic: unspun felted yarn  (Read 4410 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
unspun felted yarn
« on: October 16, 2012, 12:06:41 am »
I've recently seen several felted yarns advertised and now I see that Alafoss Lopi claims to be unspun but felted.  I'm assuming that it's pulled out as roving then felted somehow.  I would like to try this with my Hebridean yarn but how do you do the felting part without getting just a big felted mass?  I can see that it could be done on a commercial scale by winding it off one roll and onto another then felting the unrolled bit.  But how would you do it on a domestic scale?  :knit:   Or am I being remarkably stupid  :dunce:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

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SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: unspun felted yarn
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2012, 12:33:42 am »
Hi FW  :wave:

I've no idea whether this is along the lines you were thinking, but you'll be interested in it anyway...  Weaving cotted fleece
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

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: unspun felted yarn
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2012, 01:22:50 pm »
No not at all Sally  :D  but interesting yes.  I think that way of tearing felted fleece into strips would only work for certain kinds of fleece though as when my fleeces cott they become a solid mass which simply can't be pulled apart.  I suppose I could cut it into strips with hedge shears......
 
No the yarn I am thinking of is a thick singles which has been felted as yarn, as opposed to once it's made into something.   I am now wondering if I could use the finishing method for handspun but just carry on until the yarn is felted rather than just 'fulled'.  I had worried about it all sticking together but apparently by bashing it hard onto something it keeps the strands separate.
I thought it would make a good firm yarn to make into a chunky jacket or winter cardigan, which wouldn't sag or stretch, but by felting it before knitting it would keep both its size (in the garment) and the stitch definition.
 
I have spent (wasted) all morning searching online but I haven't found any info on how to do it yet.   I will experiment with some commercial yarn before I let myself loose with handspun.
 
Modified:  now I've been back online and I can't even find the yarns I'm thinking of  :rant: :rant:
 
The Lopi ones turn out to be unspun roving/sliver or whatever it's called, for felting.  There are definitely some others, including a hand dyed yarn with indigo....why didn't I note the url when I first found it  :dunce:
« Last Edit: October 16, 2012, 01:52:49 pm by Fleecewife »
"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.

colliewoman

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Pilton
  • Caution! May spontaneously talk rabbits!
Re: unspun felted yarn
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2012, 02:54:01 pm »
When I made my dreadlock extensions i pulled thin sections of roving/batt apart dipped each one in soapy water and rolled it on my lap on a rough towel (think modelling clay sausages!)
Rinse and repeat. When I couldn't get them any tighter by hand I bunched them in to sixes and chucked them in the washing machine.
I see no reason why it wouldn't work for very fine sections too. although I doubt you'd need to use the washer :thumbsup:
We'll turn the dust to soil,
Turn the rust of hate back into passion.
It's not water into wine
But it's here, and it's happening.
Massive,
but passive.


Bring the peace back

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: unspun felted yarn
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2012, 05:07:55 pm »
Hi Colliewoman.  Yes it's like very inadequate dreds but loooooong ! (a few hundred yards)  So it needs some way to unroll one end and roll the other, if I do it like that.    If I can't get it to work by felting in the skein then I think I'll give up  :tired:
"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.

 

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