New online course: Tease your wool

Today I’m releasing a new online course: Tease your wool – invite air before carding. It is part of my series of short (30 minute) lectures.

In the lecture I talk about the benefits of teasing the wool before carding and show you how I tease with different tools. I also demonstrate the difference between carding teased and unteased wool.

Enroll in Tease your wool here

Why tease?

I like to compare wool preparation to sanding a piece of rough wood. I wouldn’t start smoothing the surface down with the finest grain sandpaper. That would be straining on me and on the wood and would leave a lot of waste. Instead I would start with a rough grain sandpaper and go down a couple of sizes. I see teasing as the medium grain sand paper, after picking and before carding.

Josefin holding two carded rolags. The left large and uneven in size and fiber distribution. The right fine and even.
Rolag carded from unteased wool to the left and from teased wool to the right. The difference is remarkable.

Teasing is such an easy but powerful way to open up the fibers before carding. It makes carding easier on your body and on the fibers and will result in more even rolags and yarn. It also gives me more time with the wool, getting to know its characteristics and how it behaves.

A screenshot of the curriculum of an online course. An image of hands teasing wool on a hand card. A list of lessons and a bio of the author.
The course page of Tease your wool.

When I open up the wool by teasing, air comes in between the fibers and allows vegetation matter to fall out or makes it more accessible for me to pick it out manually. Most teasing methods also removes the shortest fibers from the wool, resulting in a higher quality in the teased preparation.

Teasing with different tools

In the lecture I show you how I tease with different tools, some of which you will have at home, others you may have or can borrow, but you won’t have to buy anything to tease your wool if you don’t want to. I show how I tease with my hands, with a hand card, a flicker and mini combs. They all work well for most types of wool. In the video I also talk about when I choose one tool over the other.

Hands teasing wool. The left hand pulls the fibers from a staple sideways, making them leave the staple in a bow.
Teasing by hand can be very meditative and is a great way to get to know the wool.

Joyful

I also talk about the joy of preparing my wool with the right tools and the right techniques. I have met so many spinners who have given up on hand-carding because it’s tedious or straining. I need all the steps from raw fleece to a finished yarn or textile to be joyful, to give me that feeling of flow and ease. With picking and teasing, the fibers are gradually opened before carding, making all the steps joyful and light.

You can read more about teasing here and see some examples here.

Enroll in Tease your wool here

Happy teasing!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. So subscribe!
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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