BYC Spinning Fiber

[BonneTerreChick]

I am not sure about other places, but here in Oregon where I am, people have sheep for a variety of reasons. There are really large grass-seed farms that run sheep on their fields for part of the year. I think they do it for extra income(meat and lambs) and perhaps use some of the grazing for crop maintenance, etc. I know that there are some smaller flocks that are kept for fiber, but many of them are for meat and lambs. I know a few people have specific registered breeds and sell the lambs, ewes and rams to other breeders or fanciers. For them the fiber is just an added bonus, in many cases, to sell to spinners. There are also a good number of folks who have a small flock of sheep for pasture and lawn mowers. A few who have a few sheep left over from kids that were in 4H or some agricultural program, that are still "just around". And because I am a spinner I also know of quite a few folks that have sheep and goats just for the fiber they produce, though that can be quite a lot of fiber! At least one fleece a year for most sheep, some have two and angora goats usually have at least two fleece a year, it can really add up fast!
I have a friend that got some free fleeces, they were quite nice. She spun them up and knit some items to felt. Unfortunately, she had been given fleece that did not felt well. Always pays to know the breed the fleece came from, the characteristics of that breeds fleece/fiber and plan accordingly. LOL, I can still see the REALLY large mittens she knit-taught me to try to felt a test swatch before I invest too much time. She finally decided to have some of the rest of the fleeces carded into really big batts to use in quilting and for pillows, worked out great!

 

[Chiramc]

I am so impressed with everyone getting these free fleeces! I have to pay for mine. I don't mind washing it - just messy; but without a drum carder - - GOOD GRIEF it takes forever to card the stuff! WOWEE! Big lesson from last year - and thank the Alimighty for dog combs! Hey, whatever works, you know?

I know many of the petting zoos around donate their fleeces - which is a good thing! And I don't raise sheep, but i believe sheep and goats are easier on pasture than other livestock - they don't uproot the green, they just clip it. I could be wrong about that.

 

[itsy]

Yes indeed! I've been using dog carders!!! I'm looking for a used set of hand cards (the real deal) or a drum carder as well as a picker. I put a "Wanted Ad" up in the section for it here on BYC.

WELCOME TO BYC, Chira! Where are you from?

In other news, I processed about 8 ounces of Navajo Churro from a friend who raises them in NJ. She's got a huge flock. I think I'll be making a rug once I'm done. I think I have 3 lbs of it raw, in different colors, but I may blend a couple with some dorset to stretch it and to make slightly different colors.

I NEED something other than dog slickers!! Good thing churro is easy to pick. For those who are unfamiliar with the breed, Navajo Churro are a dual coated sheep. You could separate the coats and spin separately, or combine them. I combined. This is a black sheep who silvers out in the sun. The undercoat was quite black, while the outercoat was a lovely silver. This fleece has absolutely no crimp. It's extremely coarse because of the outer coat and makes a very dense, scratchy wool....perfect for rugs!

This was my afternoon project. I washed the fleece late last night....

 

[BonneTerreChick]

I NEED something other than dog slickers!! Good thing churro is easy to pick. For those who are unfamiliar with the breed, Navajo Churro are a dual coated sheep. You could separate the coats and spin separately, or combine them. I combined. This is a black sheep who silvers out in the sun. The undercoat was quite black, while the outercoat was a lovely silver. This fleece has absolutely no crimp. It's extremely coarse because of the outer coat and makes a very dense, scratchy wool....perfect for rugs!

This was my afternoon project. I washed the fleece late last night....

Beautiful color! I have been spinning hand dyed stuff for quite a bit in the last year. I dont remember when I spun up any natural stuff. Makes me want to get this stuff that I am spinning now off of the bobbin and start some of my natural stuff. The stuff I am spinning now, I bought and the dye wasnt rinsed very well, if at all, and it comes off all over everthing! Yuck! But I love the color(though since it hasnt been rinsed it will probably be drastically different once it is washed!) and the fiber. Its Mohair and Wensleydale and though its a lot different from the Polwarth that I was spinning last, I love the luster!
I have a Shtetland ram that produces something similiar in color to your stuff. I have been working so much that I havent had time to process his. Rams are soooo stinky(though they dont compare to bucks!)! The last time I had two ram fleeces, I finally had the mini-mill near here do them up. The rams were Shetland and dual coated. So I had them dehair it and threw in a little Alpaca with one and left the other by its lonesome. Oh, my gosh, I love that stuff. Who would have thought that stinking, coarse, ram fleeces could produce such LOVELY downy goodness! It was amazing the difference between the one that I had done without the Alpaca, before and after the dehairing! The mill gave me the hair, from the "dehairing" and it was sooo coarse! But the down that was left afterward was even better then the single coated Shetland stuff that I have had! YUM!
So how are you going to go about making your rug? Knit, crochet, felt, braid, and/or ?? Cant wait to see the fleece all spun up.

 

[bnjrob]

Yes indeed! I've been using dog carders!!! I'm looking for a used set of hand cards (the real deal) or a drum carder as well as a picker. I put a "Wanted Ad" up in the section for it here on BYC.

WELCOME TO BYC, Chira! Where are you from?

In other news, I processed about 8 ounces of Navajo Churro from a friend who raises them in NJ. She's got a huge flock. I think I'll be making a rug once I'm done. I think I have 3 lbs of it raw, in different colors, but I may blend a couple with some dorset to stretch it and to make slightly different colors.

I NEED something other than dog slickers!! Good thing churro is easy to pick. For those who are unfamiliar with the breed, Navajo Churro are a dual coated sheep. You could separate the coats and spin separately, or combine them. I combined. This is a black sheep who silvers out in the sun. The undercoat was quite black, while the outercoat was a lovely silver. This fleece has absolutely no crimp. It's extremely coarse because of the outer coat and makes a very dense, scratchy wool....perfect for rugs!

This was my afternoon project. I washed the fleece late last night....

Looks great! I bet it takes some time with those brushes - I feel like it takes forever with my carders and they are bigger than that. Which is probably why I have several bags of fiber just doing nothing Beautiful job even using dog brushes!

 

[CaroleM]

I would love to be able to dye fleece of whatever animal, but suffer badly from allergies to chemicals. I've thought about vegetable or natural dyes, but have heard that fading is an issue with these. Any suggestions to get around this one? Maybe I should leave my alpaca fleeces, 2 different shades of cream, 1 fabulous black and 1 amazing russet. The sheep fleece I might try dying some of.

There is no one around here, that I know of, who spins. It would be wonderful to have some companionship with someone likeminded. Plymouth has a couple of emboidery groups (very cliquey), but not too much else that is publicised. I think this is why I tend to go to the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace for classes and hope to be able to save enough to start their Certificate in Hand Embroidery with one of their tutors based in Bristol, rather than get involved with the groups locally. Tried that, not a success.

Since alpaca is hair rather than fleece like a sheep, would washing it before processing make it very fly-away? I already end up chasing it around the bungalow when one of my 5 cats decides to re-decorate!

I have seen plans for making a spinning wheel, but really it is something you would need to find a really good woodturner to do for you. It looked very complicated and a job not to be undertaken by someone without experience. Perhaps someone here has found plans that were straight forward. I hope that everyone looking to either make, have made or buy a wheel has great success. I was so lucky to be in the right place at the right time, my spinning tutor had been given a handmade Saxony oak wheel, which the lady who had owned it sadly had to part with and was able to buy it for a very reasonable price. I know in the UK that Ashford wheels are very expensive, even on the net using something like ebay. I took my tutor's words to heart before I got my wheel, looking around I had seen several for sale, either in antique shops or even 2nd hand markets, but Jane warned me to look very carefully, because often pieces were missing or the could be a woodworm issue etc. Can I pass her words on to anyone thinking of getting a 2nd hand wheel, without knowing its provonance. I also discovered that stability could be an issue, some were being sold as working wheels when in reality they were far more suited to being used as an ornament sat in the corner to decorate a room.

 

[michickenwrangler]

CaroleM

You need to use a mordant to "fix" natural dyes. Natural mordants can be citrus juice (think of how hard it is for red wine to come out), rhubarb, old copper pennies, sumac leaves, oak leaves, ground acorns. You want something rather acidic or rather alkaline to help fix the color. There are a lot of books of natural dyes if you cruise around on Amazon

 

[Chiramc]

Thank you! I've not had the opportunity to work with churro yet; but I am looking forward to it!

I'm located in the Greater Kansas City area, on the KS side. I know, sounds odd, but a lot of the area is actually in Missouri.

 

[Nslangton]

Hi All, I have a mohair/angora goat that is huge. She is a rescue because she has a very hard time being nice. She has big horns and she knows how to use them. The first spring I had her we had her sheared because she was filthy. The second spring she molted on her own. This spring we brushed out all of her hair. The mohair is abundant and like silk. We just throw it away. If anyone is interested, I will have her sheared next year and give you the hair. We did keep a little that I could mail a sample to you to check it out. It seems wasteful to just throw it away. If interested send me a pm and I'll mail a sample.

 

[itsy]

The night before last, we drove 3.5 hours (before all the traffic and roadwork and detours) into PA to pick up a great deal on two spinning wheels and everything that came with them. One is an Ashford Traditional from the 70's and the other is a very interesting castle style wheel that I'd like to post photos of to see if anyone can understand it or the makers mark. It's very unique.

Anyhow....

In this package deal, there was a box of fiber. How long will wool keep? It looks to be in good condition, but it could easily be 30 years old. I am planning on taking photos of it to see if you guys could recognize any of it? I also believe there's a bag of flax. So there's this big box of fiber, an umbrella winder, extra bobbins (that look like they are for cotton/flax), the wheels, two antique sets of hand cards, niddy noddy, other cool stuff and a bunch of spinning books.... for $300.

Great deal you say, yes?

Well on the way back....we HIT A BEAR! My car is in the shop right now and I get to pay a $500 deductible. Thank God we're alive, though.