I got a fleece black as the night and transformed it into two yarns showcasing its superpowers – one strong and shiny and one soft and warm. I call them Panther and Starling.
If you are a patron (or if you want to become one) you can see a demonstration of how I spin these yarns in my November 2024 video postcard.
Every year there is a Swedish fleece championships and I like to buy a couple of fleeces at the auction following the prize ceremony. At the 2022 championships I bought a black Rya lamb’s fleece as a challenge to myself.
25 centimeter staples of a black Rya lamb’s fleece.
I think it is difficult to spin dark fleeces since I can’t see the fibers properly. Also, I never wear black. But I had made my decision and the beautiful fleece was in my stash. For a long time. I had postponed spinning it, but this fall I decided to spin it before it got too old and brittle.
Separate
The shine in this black rya fleece is remarkable, with strong outercoat fibers of 23–27 centimeters and soft and fine undercoat fibers of 10–15 centimeters. I decided to spin two yarns, one worsted spun warp yarn and one woolen spun knitting yarn.
Carded rolags of the shorter fibers, together with recycled sari silk, and combed tops of the longer fibers.
I did the preparation in two steps for both of the yarns. To begin, I combed the wool. I didn’t doff the outercoat in a long top, though, instead I just pulled out the longest fibers and saved them in a box where I had marked the cut ends and tip ends of the fibers. In the next step I pulled the remaining (shorter) fibers off the combs and set them aside. I re-combed the longest fibers and dizzed them off the combs and rolled the top into bird’s nests. The last preparation step was the undercoat; I carded it together with small tufts of recycled sari silk.
Outercoat and undercoat
I say longer and shorter fibers here, not outercoat and undercoat. In my first trials I made sure to get mainly the outercoat in the top and mainly the undercoat in the rolag. But the yarn I made from the undercoat felt a bit too coarse, and so I used only the finest fibers for the rolags.
I’m spinning the carded rolags with an English longdraw. (screenshot).
This meant that there was a spectrum of fiber lengths – both outercoat and undercoat – in the combed top. You can see it in the bird’s nests above – the very shiny part is most probably outercoat and the more matte is most probably undercoat fibers.
The worsted spun yarn is very strong and it nearly broke my skin when I tried to break it (Screenshot).
Even if there is a spectrum of fiber lengths in the worsted yarn, it is still very strong and I will trust it as a weaving yarn. At least when it comes to strength, its inclination to cling to neighbouring warp threads remains to be seen.
Of the total weight, 60 per cent was the worsted yarn. It might have been different if I had chosen to divide it more strictly by fiber type. The total yield (raw fleece to finished yarn) was 65 per cent, which is higher than my average 55 per cent.
Panther and Starling
I reached the bottom of the wool basket this week and plied the last skein of each sort. I love how they turned out. It was a challenge to spin the black fibers, especially this time of year, but I did it. The long fibers were a challenge to handle, but my hands got used to working with them in the end.
Panther and Starling – nine skeins of strong and shiny warp yarn and five skeins of soft and warm knitting yarn.
I call the worsted yarn Panther – strikingly shiny, black and strong. The softness and the coloured speckles on the woolen yarn begged me to call it Starling, and so here they are – Panther and Starling.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I love carding and spinning longdraws from carded rolags. I have carded literally thousands of rolags by now and developed a carding technique that suits me. But it hasn’t always been like that – in the beginning my carding was more straining and my rolags more wonky. At one point I watched a video where four spinners showed their personal carding techniques, that were totally different from each other. I picked the parts that suited me and built my own carding routine and it has made my carding smooth and joyful. I hope this short lecture can help as a guide for you to find a carding style that suits you, your tools and your context.
Course outline
The course is 40 minutes and divided into four shorter videos so you can watch smaller portions at a time. The video is in spoken English and all videos are captioned in English. I have added on-screen keywords for important concepts. The keywords also make it easier to scroll throug the videos if you are looking for something special.
I go through why I card, what types of wool I card and how I card. I have divided the carding process into three steps:
dress and frame
structure and transfer
lift and shape.
Card your wool is available at my online spinning school now (this is a screenshot).
There is also a trouble shooting section where I explain the most common setbacks I have experienced both myself and as a teacher through all the courses I have taught. In the comments section I welcome you to reflect and ask questions.
More courses
You can find more courses, challenges and short lectures in my online school. Two of the short lectures already published, on picking the fleece and teasing the wool, are essential to the carding process and I highly recommend them as preparation for carding.
Happy carding!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
Back in October I helped my friend Claudia with the fleeces in the autumn shearing. I brought the fleeces from the Gestrike sheep Doris and Härvor home, and I bet they hadn’t taken the bus before!
Just a few days earlier I had cuddled these two wooly ladies at a pasture photo shoot for my book. Getting to create yarn with fleeces whose sheep I have met and shared breaths with made me realize what a special opportunity that was, and it gave me an extra tingle in my heart.
Doris and Härvor take the bus to the city.
You can read more about the two visits to Claudia’s farm in the essay style post A breath of wool.
A secret mission
A few weeks ago I talked with A, a wooly artist who will remain secret for a while longer. She is working on a secret project and I suggested a collaboration: that I would send her handspun yarns from the fleeces of Doris and Härvor and she would incorporate them in her project. She loved the idea and we started to plan our different ends of the process. A and I don’t know each other and have never met, it is just one of those sweet Instagram connections that make my heart sing once again.
Typical and not
Neither of the fleeces is typical of Gestrike wool. The most common staple type in a Gestrike fleece would be a dual coat with long and strong outercoat fibers and soft and airy undercoat fibers. But it could just as easily be another dominant staple type. At the same time, Gestrike wool can be very variegated. The white locks from Doris’ fleece are very fine and crimpy and with a soft sheen, almost like a finull fleece.
Newly shorn fleece from Doris (left) and Härvor (right) the Gestrike sheep.
Härvor’s locks are more mixed, with both straight and crimpy staples, long and shorter, white and grey. A little rougher than Doris’ fleece, but still soft. Since the wool of Gestrike sheep tends to lighten as the sheep grows, chances are that Härvor was born a lot darker, perhaps with white spots.
The yarns
A gave med creative freedom with the yarns. I decided on two fingering-ish weight 2-ply knitting yarns. I wanted to create them so that A would be able to use them for the same project, should she want to, perhaps in a stranded colourwork. With that as my starting point I aimed for two yarns that had the same qualities, even if they came from fleeces that did not.
Doris (left) and Härvor (right): Staple, teased wool, carded rolag and finished 2-ply yarns.
I had already picked the locks right after the fleeces had dried after washing, so my hands had already made their acquaintance with the wool. In the next step I teased for each fleece around 50 grams of wool with my combing station. I wanted lots of loft in the yarns and decided on woolen spinning in one of my favourite techniques: English longdraw. So I carded my teased wool into the sweetest rolags and took my seat at the wheel.
Treadles and twist
English longdraw means that you gather twist in front of the rolag, make around an arm’s length draw to let the twist travel up the drawn section, and then add the final twist before you allow the spun yarn to roll up on the bobbin. As I do this I like to keep a consistent treadle count – in this case I treadle six to gather twist, make the draw, treadle ten to add twist, and then roll the yarn onto the bobbin. This gives the technique a beautiful rhythm, and also a consistency. Together with a similar counting in the carding, a yarn spun this way has the potential to become very consistent.
Doris and Härvor as finished yarns.
I used the same rhythm for both yarns and they turned out quite similar to each other and landed on a grist of 1700 and 1790 meters per kilo. The Doris skein may have a little more elasticity since her wool has more crimp than Härvor’s. I have cuddled these skeins numerous times, or just admired them. Today I sent them to A, so I will have to just cherish the memory of them. And, of course, I have the rest of the bags of fleece left, and I may spin them the same way as these first two skeins.
A new journey
So, Doris and Härvor are going on a new journey. This time in the shape of yarns and probably in a truck, but still, a journey to a new town and to a new home. I wonder how A will give them a new shape. I hope they all get along and that A can make Doris and Härvor shine! I’ll let you know when the secret isn’t a secret anymore.
Resources
Do you want to dive deeper? Here are some resources.
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. So subscribe!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I’ve done it before, married a kempy Gute fleece with recycled sari silk with surprising success. Today I’m combining silk and kemp again, with even more success.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see how I tease, blend and spin the Gute wool with sari silk in my February 2024 video postcard.
The combination wool from a primitive breed like Gute sheep, including kemp, with something as delicate as silk is quite intriguing, and I still giggle when I think about when the idea poked me in the eye a couple of years ago.
2021: First try
Back then it was a Gute lamb’s fleece. I teased the wool with my combing station, while at the same time blending it with recycled sari silk. A lot of the kemp stayed in the combs as I teased the wool. Sadly, a lot of the sari silk did too.
Lots of the sari silk got stuck in the tines of the combs when I teased and blended the first Gute fleece back in 2021. I got a lovely little skein and did a couple of fulling tests.
The result was a surprisingly soft yarn, though, with little specks of silk next to the quirky kemp. Sadly, I only spun that one small skein as a test when I bought the fleece, and when it finally was the Gute fleece’s turn in my fleece queue, it had gone old and brittle. With a heavy heart I placed it on my garden beds as mulching. I was quite crushed by this (even if the vegetables weren’t).
2024: Second try
A year or so ago I got myself another Gute lamb’s fleece, with beautiful soft undercoat and quite a lot of kemp. This one made its turn in the fleece queue before it got brittle.
Another Gute lamb’s fleece came home with me. Just as the first one it has lots of kemp.
This time I tried teasing it staple by staple with a flicker. And it really did the trick – by gently brushing the cut ends I got rid of a lot more kemp than I had with the combs. All that was left after the flicking were astonishingly soft fibers. Some kemp is still there, but I don’t let it bother me.
With a simple brush with the flicker I remove lots of the kemp and end up with fine and silky fibers. The rightmost image shows the original staple (middle), the flicked staple (top) and the waste in the flicker after flicking (bottom).
When I look at the flicked staples I can see that there are outercoat fibers, but very close to the fineness of the undercoat fibers. Just sweet locks of silky vanilla kindness, light as feathers and dying to spoon with some sari silk.
Flicked (left) and unlicked (right) staples of Gute lamb’s wool.
My usual yield from raw fleece to finished yarn is around 55 per cent. I expect this yield to be lower due to the amount of kemp removed, but the result is truly astonishing and definitely worth it. Flicking staple by staple is time consuming, but I do it while bingeing Downton Abbey, and enjoy the slow movements of the flicker. Once a staple is flicked it feels like a luxurious soap against my skin.
Enter recycled sari silk
My plan was to use combs to blend the sari silk with the teased staples. However, when I tried adding the sari silk straight onto the cards I realized that it worked wonderfully well. I just pulled a staple length of the sari silk off the braid, teased it sideways to match the width of the wool on the card and placed it on top. Carding was a dream and the silk blended smoothly and evenly into the batt.
I’m dressing the card with first the flicked staples and then the recycled sari silk.
When I find the rhythm I can card for ages. It’s like a dance and I swirl away to the muffled sound of brush strokes. The teased fibers make the smooth movements possible. My latest ebayed hand cards are a dream. I think they are from the -70’s, but made with old techniques. I have never experienced such smooth cards.
Shaping the gute/sari silk rolag into pure yumminess.
Woolen yarn and fulled dreams
I am spinning the rolags with an English longdraw on my spinning wheel and 2-plying it. I am spinning the yarn quite fine, around light fingering to fingering weight. As you can see in the picture below, there is still kemp in the yarn. Most of this will fall out during weaving, leaving air pockets that will make the fabric light and warm.
My plan is to weave it in tabby on my rigid heddle loom. I’m not sure how much yarn I will get, perhaps I will use it all as a warp yarn and spin some Icelandic undercoat wool the same way for the weft.
A 2-ply yarn spun with English longdraw from carded rolags of Gute wool blended with recycled silk.
In May I will go to a fulling mill with my wool traveling club and full the finished weave, along with some other woven projects. More kemp will fall out in the intense handling, leaving a magical cloth. That is my plan, anyway. I’m truly excited about both the wool journey and the results. I will of course keep you posted.
Happy spinning!
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!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
When I count I automatically group the numbers in clusters of four – counting four steps and then another four in the staircase, four stitches in a pattern repeat, groups of four breaths in the cold bath. Also, usually four treadles at a time on the spinning wheel, as if I were spinning in common time. This yarn, though, wanted to be spun in triple time, a waltzing yarn.
I spin in triple time, treadling each wooly part through dancing hands
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
trailing wool, back and forth
One-two-three, four-five-six, gather twist,
seven-eight-nine, make the draw, arm's length back,
thirteen-fourteen-fifteen, yarn slides through
gather twist four-five-six.
fibers live, open up the twist,
finding space in the yarn, yield to the twist,
four-five-six, make the draw,
back and forth, leaning in to gather, back to draw the yarn, floating the twist, live in the fibers, between my hands, leaning forth again.
Icelandic wool separated, and the undercoat teased
Once sweet locks of Icelandic wool
pulled apart,
overcoat left, sparkling of charge
undercoat right, hair on end like the morning after
orderly piles, one for each
tease by hand
arched fibers stretched, layer by layer
Welcome air!
to breathe, to puff, and gently let go.
Card, tease and roll, in triple time.
A handful of wool
offered to the card
softly-softly brush,
one-two-three
transfer wool
four-five-six,
shape the roll
promising loft
carding a waltz.
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
swaying and dawning a promise of yarn
seven-eight-nine, pulse of the twist eager to rush through
How can't I see it, that dazzle of fibers?
ready to catch the yarn,
make the yarn,
strengthen, soften
to the tune of the waltz.
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time
swaying the waltz,
softly.
Gently.
Fiber and yarn, that sweet spot between,
free to glide,
free to twist,
stay in the space, conform to its shape
Once there, inviting the twist back in
to seal, to protect the strength,
to surrender to the yarn.
Bildtext
Four-five-six
make the draft,
shooting the fibers into its power,
still somewhat fiber, still somewhat yarn,
in limbo,
suspended between airy and dense,
between soft and strong.
Hands in conversation through the yarn,
the bubbling
of the fire
in the point of twist engagement,
a point that is no point,
but a context of in-betweenness,
neither rolag nor yarn,
yet both, and still none,
open and close,
until my hands feel the spot to settle in, allow the twist back,
to seal, to confirm, to conform
in a newborn yarn,
to land quietly, gently on the bobbin,
strand next to strand,
an arm's length from the rolag they were once part of,
yet a lifetime away,
a new shape, a new purpose.
Reading my words
makes me see
that I write
in clusters of three,
to the beat
and the sway
of a
tri-ple-time waltz.
Still somewhat fiber, still somewhat yarn.
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
the dance in the yarn
in my hands
in my mind,
in my words and my soul.
The echo of three
as the yarn moves through me,
rippling the sway through my sizzling skin,
leaving a smile in my face and a song in my heart.
Buonanotte fiorellino was the waltz that breathed through my mind as I spun the yarn and wrote this piece (you can see a waltzy spinning reel on my instagram. What is your favourite spinning beat?
Happy spinning!
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!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
Fjällnäs sheep is one of the 11 (the eleventh established in the autumn of 2023) conservation and heritage breeds in Sweden. It is the smallest, both in size and in number. According to the statistics of 2022 there were 40 breeding ewes in 8 flocks in Sweden. The rams weigh 30–50 kilos and the ewes 30–40 kilos. For reference a merino ram can weigh up to 100 kilos.
The flock that was the original for the gene bank comes from the northernmost part of Sweden. Traditionally the Fjällnäs sheep have tended themselves on the mountains during spring and summer. In the autumn they were gathered to graze the regrowth of the newly harvested hay.
Just like Dalapäls sheep, the fjällnäs sheep have a strong sense for the flock and are suspicious of strangers. When they graze there are always a couple of individuals that are on the guard, looking out for danger. Tending to themselves during the summer months has made the breed very sturdy.
On the fjällnäs sheep website you can see pictures of the sheep and their lustrous wool.
Wool characteristics
Fjällnäs wool is usually white with a soft yellow tone or with black or grey spots. Some lambs are born fawn but fade to a light copper with age. The wool is quite similar to rya wool – a dual coat with long and very shiny outercoat fibers and plenty of soft and lustrous undercoat.
Gentle locks of Fjällnäs wool.
The sturdy wool has been used for mittens, socks, sweaters and warm undergarments that have been needed in the daily lives with forestry, reindeer husbandry and as protection against the cold winter in the northernmost part of Sweden. The wool was also used for fulling, for both the majority population and for the Sami. Research has shown that over 100 year old Sami sewn sheepskins are identical to the modern Fjällnäs skins in texture and colour.
Cixi the 4H bronze medalist
The Fjällnäs fleece I got is a bronze medalist from the 2021 Swedish fleece championships. The ewe, Cixi, comes from a 4H farm (the oldest in Sweden) in the northernmost part of Sweden, where the sheep have lived traditionally. She was their first lamb born in the gene bank. Due to the small amount of Fjällnäs sheep it took the farm a few years to find a ram that was genetically suitable. She was born reddish and now has a light red tint to her fleece.
Cixi’s wool
The first thing I notice as I start picking the fleece of Cixi is its tendency to fall apart. You know that softly woven carpet of staples you get with some fleeces? This is totally the opposite. The staples are very loosely placed next to each other, making picking very easy. The staples are soft, silky and very fine. The rareness of this breed makes me want to make something very special with the fleece and resulting yarn, using it as wisely as I possibly can.
Raw Fjällnäs Wool.
To guide me in how to make this particular wool shine I like to pick out three main characteristics. I only have this one 200 gram fleece and the characteristics will inevitably be unique to it. The characteristics I choose for Cixi’s Fjällnäs wool are
The shine, oh, the shine. This is such a lustrous fleece and I can’t stop looking at it.
The strong character. Yes, this wool has a will of its own. Very kind in its appearance, but quite strong minded in the draft.
The colour, a warm vanilla with a whiff of red.
Prepare
This is such a small fleece and despite the wide variety of length and character in the staples, I decide to work with the fleece as a whole and not separate it. The combination of long, strong and shiny outercoat fibers and soft and fine undercoat fibers steer me to carding rolags and spinning a woolen 2-ply yarn.
Carded rolags of Fjällnäs wool.
After picking I teased the wool with combs. The wool was very open and easy to tease. Carding was a joy, with the openness of the fibers and the delightful blend of outercoat and undercoat fibers. The soft undercoat making up the volume in the rolags and the long, strong and shiny outercoat fibers to armour the rolag and keeping it together is a match made in heaven.
Spin
I love to spin rolags like these with an English longdraw. Gathering twist, making the draft, keeping the twist live in the point of twist engagement, and then add the final twist when I am happy with the thickness and evenness. A rhythm and a dance that makes my heart sing.
Three skeins of Fjällnäs yarn, woolen spun from carded rolags of both undercoat and outercoat.
The first skein I spun was a bit of a struggle, though. The yarn broke as I spun it and I overspun a lot of it. The plied yarn was wonky with sections of phone cable. For the second skein I listened more to the live fibers in the point of twist engagement and managed to understand how the fibers worked. The skein turned out beautifully, as did the third. And then I was out of fluff.
Use
So, I have my three skeins. It’s not much, but I want to do something special with them. Perhaps a pair of mittens or wrist warmers. A hat or a detail of something larger, or stripes together with another yarn in the same fashion.
Just like most of the Swedish conservation breeds, Fjällnäs wool is very versatile with its dual coat. With more wool than the 200 grams I had I could separate the fiber types and prepare and spin them differently for different projects – strong warp yarns with the outercoat fibers, soft next to skin yarns with the undercoat, and sweaters, mittens, hats, shawls and socks with the fiber types together or semi-separated. The opportunities are endless.
Happy spinning!
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!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I have been planning for this course for a few years now and this August I finally started recording the videos. October and November were the months of editing and in December I have put the course together on my course platform.
Every now and then perple have asked me to create an online course for beginners. I have been a bit scared of it, though. There is so much responsibility with beginners and I haven’t been sure I am the right person to do it. But then, last year a friend of mine asked me if I could create an online course in suspended spindle spinning for beginners in Swedish, and I did, and it was a success. And so, this new course, in English and with English captions, is based on that course in Swedish, with a couple of additions based on questions I got from the Swedish course.
Picking, teasing and carding the wool to prepare for spinning.
Even if I still feel like a beginner at teaching beginners, I decided that this is the time and I am so happy to be able to publish this course.
Onlinekursen på svenska lanserades hösten 2022 och fanns tillgänglig under ett år. Är du intresserad av att kursen ges igen, hör av dig till Ullförmedlingen.
What you need
To take Spindle spinning for beginners you only need four things – a suspended spindle, a pair of hand cards, wool and time. Even if spinning may develop into a material sport over time for some people, a beginner’s course should be accessible with as few tools as possible. I do however show a couple of techniques with other tools as bonus and inspiration, but they are not necessary.
What you will learn
The course is about creating yarn on a suspended spindle, not just spinning it. This means that I go through all the steps of preparation – picking, teasing (with four different techniques) and carding. Then we move on to spinning, both with a park and draft method to keep the sequence linear, and then unparked for those who are ready to spin, draft and keep control over the spindle simultaneously. We transfer the singles to prepare for plying, ply them into a 2-ply yarn, make a skein, soak and finish. If you want to work with washed wool you need to was your wool beforehand, the course doesn’t cover washing.
We also look at drafting theory, spindle models, trouble shooting and spinning with both left and right hand as spindle hand. All through the course we look at how to work in a way that is sustainable to you.
Who can take the course?
Anyone can take this course. You may be a total beginner in spinning. Perhaps you learned decades ago but haven‘t practiced since then. Perhaps you have sheep and want to learn how to spin their wool. Or perhaps you spin on a spinning wheel and you want to learn how to spin on a suspended spindle. Do spread the word to friends who want to learn or who you secretly want to want to learn. Either way you are very welcome to the classroom!
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.
I haven’t been very interested in antique cards before, I have bought modern cards because I have thought they were of the best quality. Recently though, I have become very interested in antique cards and the gifts they bring.
When I was teaching at Sätergläntan this summer I met Ingrid. She wasn’t in my course, but she was a spinner and we talked about spinning when we met at breaks and meals. Many years ago, it must have been in the 1980’s, she had written some sort of report on old Swedish hand cards. She had met the last card maker in Sweden and even learned the craft herself from him. She still had cards left that she had made herself, with leather pads and all.
Diagonal teeth
Ingrid told me that the best cards have the teeth placed diagonally across the carding pad. That way more teeth would catch on to each fiber and card it more thoroughly. Most of the cards that had been made in the region of Västergötland she had researched were made this way.
All the antique cards I bought have the teeth placed diagonally.
I was amazed at this detail and went home and looked at my own antique cards. I did have two pairs with leather pads. They were tucked away somewhere because I thought modern cards were better. When found them in an old and dusty box and picked them out into the light I saw that one of the pairs had their teeth placed diagonally. The leather pads were neatly fastened with tacks.
Waves in the carding dance
With this new knowledge, my antique cards had suddenly turned into something valuable. I tried them and they carded like butter. Smooth and silent from all the years of work, with the teeth following my movements like waves on the ocean, like a dance in the choreography of the wool. With a smile in my heart I put my modern cards in the dusty drawer.
The wool dances across the carding pad.
Antique card frenzy
A couple of weeks ago I got into some sort of antique card frenzy and started looking for antique cards on Swedish ebay. I had a few terms for the cards to pass. I wanted them to
have leather pads in reasonable condition
be tacked onto the handles
have the teeth – preferably without rust – placed diagonally on the pads.
My five pairs of antique cards.
To my surprise I found a few that matched my terms. I placed bids on (clearing my throat) four pairs. For each pair the final price went up a little more. I probably annoyed the other buyers by taking home all the pairs. But I wanted to explore the properties of different models and makers of antique cards.
Size
Two of the pairs are of approximately the same size and proportions as the modern cards I have. Two are a bit longer. Too long for me actually. I realized I like the pads to be just a few centimeters longer than my hand. That way I can use my flat hand as I tuck the end in when I shape the rolag. With a longer card my had won’t reach the whole length of the rolag. I did not know this before I started this collection of antique cards.
Weight
When I investigated my antique cards I weighed them. It turned out that the two cards in each pair were different. Of course it can be the artistic expression of a craftsperson working with natural material, but still, all of the pairs? In three of the pairs the difference was only 10–15 grams, but in one pair the difference was 40 grams.
The SB cards weigh 200 and 215 grams, the MHS 201 and 210 and the J.A. Bodvar in Gullered 218 and 258 grams.
I wonder if the difference in weight has a purpose. Perhaps the heavier card is supposed to be the stationary card and the lighter the moving? I have no idea, but it’s intriguing, isn’t it?
A setback
The other day I skipped along to the package delivery to pick up my latest auction find. I didn’t have time to open it at the time, but a couple of days later I did. To prepare for the photo shoot for this blog post, I dressed them with teased wool and started to card.
The expression of disgust as I see the carding pad rise and crumble in my hands. I think the technical term is eeouww.
After just a couple of strokes the carding pad started to crumble and lift from the card, inside the frame. It tore like liquorice. Several teeth rose and ended up in the jumble of wool and carding pad carcass. It was a sorry sight.
A sad, sad card carcass.
I looked at the ebay add. It said ”Fine antique cards. Work just as well today”. Well, it turned out that they didn’t. I contacted the seller and asked for a refund. She said I should have counted with it when I bought them antique. I replied that I assumed that she had tried them since she wrote in the add that they worked. She didn’t budge, but I persisted. I suggested we could split the cost. After a while she did pay me back half of the cost and we wished each other a nice weekend. Of course I knew I could get cards in bad quality, but in my naïveté I thought she had tested them with a description like that.
Carders and makers
Some of the cards have the names of the maker printed, burned or labeled on on one or both of the cards. I wonder who they were, SB, MHS and J.A. Bodvar in Gullered. Did they card themselves or did they just make the cards? When and where did they live? Whose hands have held the cards before me, and softened the edges of the handles? Have the cards been handed down in generations?
A sweet rolag of Fjällnäs wool made with my favourite antique cards.
My heart sings when I hold the softened handles. It’s like I hold the hands of the spinners who have used them before me.
Results?
My favourite pair so far is actually still the pair I happened to have at home. I think I bought them on a flea market a few years ago, and actually in the area (Västergötland) where Ingrid had made her research. The area was rich in card making tradition and had produced the highest quality cards. You can see a card maker at work in Rånnaväg in Västergötland in this video.
My favourite cards were the ones I already had at home. They weigh 186 and 201 grams.
Eventhough I had my favourite cards in that old and dusty box all along, I didn’t realize it until I talked to Ingrid and later compared them to the other ones. Just by investigating all the pairs I learned a lot and found a lot of new questions and reasons to keep exploring.
Happy carding!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.
Last week I finally finished a weave that I have been working on since Christmas – weaving twill on a rigid heddle loom does take time. Today I present my newly cut down twill weave.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see more of my twill weave and the cutting of the warp in my January and March 2023 video postcards.
Two medalists in the 2020 Swedish fleece championships are the foundation in this weaving project. Both the shepherdesses have received numerous medals in the championships over the years.
A seduction warp
The fleece I used for the warp yarn is a Swedish leicester/finull/Gotland mixbreed. It got the Wool guru’s seduction medal with the motivation from the founder of the prize, Alan Waller:
”I am seduced as if a fantasy drawing had become reality. A wool type of its own – that a fleece with such fine and soft fibers can exist in this enormous length! This kind of wool simply doesn’t exist […]. My spindle watches it with its single eye, wondering, longing, dreaming – what may become of this?” [my translation]
Long and soft staples of Swedish leicester/finull/Gotland lamb combed into bird’s nests.
The staples are indeed long – 18 centimeters – and the fibers unusually soft for such a length. The shine is remarkable and I couldn’t really stay away from the sweet locks when I got them in my hands.
I combed the locks, which was quite a task considering their length, and spun worsted into a singles warp yarn. Look at those bird’s nests, aiming for the sky like newly piped cream buns.
Nypon/Rose hip
The other fleece was a Swedish finull lamb’s fleece that won a silver medal in the finull category. The lamb is named Nypon, which means Rose hip. A sweet shine and playful crimp, the softest of soft fibers.
Soft and crimpy finull wool, teased and carded into rolags.
Finull was the first fleece I ever spun, so the sweet and crimpy staples feel like home to me. I teased the wool with a combing station, carded rolags and spun with an English longdraw into a woolen singles weft yarn.
In the dye pot
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not a good dyer. Yet it doesn’t stop me from dyeing. I like warm colours, so usually I start by mixing equal parts blue, red and yellow to create a brown base. After that I add the colour I want. For the past few years I have had a teal period and I still do. I added a mix of three parts blue and one part yellow to the brown base and ended up with a colour I liked. I then dyed one warp bath with almost full colour saturation and one weft bath with a lot less, ending up with two shades of the same colour. Eventhough I had aimed for a slightly bluer shade and a higher contrast I still like the result.
Newly dyed balls of weaving yarn.
I had chained my skeins together to keep them in order in the dye bath, but forgot to loosen up the knots, so there are some spots with almost undyed yarn. This annoyed me of course, but looking at the finished weave I do like the perfectly imperfect colour variegation.
Singles
While almost almost all of my weaving projects with my handspun yarn has had singles weft yarn I have never woven with a singles warp, let alone a singles handspun warp yarn. With the very long fibers in the fleece I chose for the project I figured I might as well challenge myself to weave my very first singles warp. I knew it was a risk, but since I was going to weave a twill fabric I figured the setup would lead to less friction on the warp ends than a tabbe weave.
Warping my twill weave. You can see how the warp yarn still has energy.
To prepare the yarns, especially the warp, for a life in a weave I wound them rather tightly around pebbles. I learned this from a video with Andean spinning and weaving. This method helps removing some of the energy in the singles. While it did help some, there was still enough energy left to get me into some trouble. When I dressed my loom the warp ends wound themselves around each other which gave me work to do every time I advanced the warp. I had to manually detangle every warp thread to be able to make the advance.
Twill weave
A rigid heddle loom can, in its original execution, only weave tabby. I have an addition that makes it possible to weave with a second heddle. With this I can weave things like double weave and two separate layers that are folded in one or two ends. With the two heddles, a heddle stick and an extra warp stick I can create the four shafts I need for a 3/1 twill. I have done this a couple of times before.
The homemade four shafts: Two rigid heddles, one warp stick and one heddle stick (screenshot from patron video).
While it does take time I love the method and, what’s more important, I understand it. A regular loom is way too complicated for me with all its possibilities. I do the other way around and start with a very simple loom and add on when I feel I have the skill to and/or deserve it. The fact that it is even possible to make a four shaft weave in a simple loom is just lovely!
Two sides
Now, back to the yarns I spun – one shiny and strong, the other soft and warm. With a 3/1 twill I can weave a fabric with one side that is warp dominated and the other weft dominated. This means that the warp dominated side is shiny, strong and weather resistant, just like the tips of a double coated fleece protecting the sheep against the rain. The weft dominated side in turn, is soft and warm similarly to how the undercoat protects the sheep against cold. I created a fabric that is for me what the fleeces once were to the sheep.
Weaving my twill weave in the local weaving room.
Since I dyed the weft and warp yarns in different shades, the weft facing side is slightly lighter than the warp facing side.
A finished fabric
After nearly hyper ventilating I managed to cut down the warp. And I really loved the result. The fabric has just the drape I was looking for and I love the difference in the warp and weft faced sides. There were lots of broken warp threads along the way, which I had anticipated. As always, my mistakes create a map of what I have learned, a map that is especially clear in a weaving project.
The warp is cut and teh weave released into the wild (screenshots from patron video).
Every inch of the yarn has been used. Just a couple of meters were left of the warp yarn after warping. I used those to rescue and join broken warp threads during the weaving. I used all the weft yarn down to the last centimeter. All that is left are the thrums. And I will find good use for them too.
The twill weave got even softer after washing, especially on the weft facing side, of course. A garment is finished and I will tell you all about it in an upcoming blog post.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
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.
In October I bought an Icelandic fleece from Hulda at Uppspuni mini mill in Iceland. I decided to separate the coats – tog and þel – by hand, just to see what I could learn. And I did indeed learn.
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see how I separate tog and þel by hand on the darker fleece in my December 2022 video postcard.
Two fleeces of Icelandic wool – one whole fleece in a lighter shade of grey and part of a darker one.
I asked Hulda to pick out a couple of ewe fleeces for me, with an interesting colour range somewhere along the grey scale. She found two beautiful fleeces, one lighter and one darker grey. I chose the lighter one and as much of the darker one that would work in a 2 kilo package. A few weeks later it landed at my doorstep – 1500 grams of the lighter grey and 500 grams of the darker.
Tog and þel
Icelandic wool has a dual coat with long and strong outercoat fibers and shorter, finer and softer undercoat fibers. Tog is Icelandic for the outercoat of Icelandic fleeces. I believe the word has the same origin as the Swedish word tagel (horse hair). The Icelandic undercoat is called þel [thel].
Separating
Usually when I want to separate undercoat and outercoat to spin separately I use a pair of combs. But I like to work close to the wool and I thought I’d try separating the two fiber types by hand on these beautiful Icelandic fleeces. An Icelandic spinner told me that her way of separating the fiber types was by hand.
So, this is how I separate the coats by hand:
The first step is easy – I pick a few locks by the tip ends. I bundle them up with the tip ends in one direction and the cut ends in the other.
On some parts of the darker fleece the cut ends are a little bundled up, so I lightly open up the cut ends to make the separation smoother.
I keep a firm grip in the tip ends and by lightly pulling and wiggling the cut ends, separate the two fiber types. I place the tog carefully in a paper bag with the tip end facing one direction and the cut ends another. I place the þel in another bag.
Lovely and freshly picked staples of Icelandic wool.
The fleeces Hulda has sent to me are of excellent quality. For that reason I knew that these were perfect candidates for separating by hand. In the beginning I had no particular reason for doing it this way, other than to explore and learn. But after having separated the whole 2 kilos of fleece by hand I now know the benefits of it and I will walk you through what I have learned.
Hello Wool
Usually I start a fleece exploration of a fleece by picking it, the whole fleece before I do anything else with it. With this Icelandic fleece I pick a few staples and separate them before I pick another few staples. Same steps but in a little different order. Regardless of the order of the steps. this is my first opportunity to get to know the fleece, and in its most natural form: From the washed fleece I pick out staple by staple and continue from there.
As I work with my hands through the wool I get to know it, I get to say hello to the wool and see what it has to teach me. As I separate tog and the I find two different colours.
Let’s stop right there for a minute. As I pick the tip end of a staple and gently pull it out of the mass of staples, free at the tip ends and holding on at the cut ends, I get the opportunity to get to know the wool from the very start. I get to see how long the fibers are, both outercoat and undercoat. I see crimp, colour and staple type. When I dig my hands into the fleece I feel the bounce and when I draft some fibers out of the cut end of a staple I get a feeling of how it will spin.
Picking and separating the locks by hand gives me a unique opportunity to make an inventory of the entire fleece and sort according to any parameter I fancy.
Colours
I knew there were different colours in the fleeces, but it wasn’t until I picked and separated the staples I saw where the colours really were. The lighter fleece was quite homogenous – light grey þel and about the same colour in the tog.
Soft þel from the darker fleece. The basket is a Ullkränku, a Gotland wool basket.
The darker fleece, however hid a whole range of grey from very light to pitch black that was revealed when I separated the coats. All the þel was silvery grey while the colour range was in the tog. So, my original plan to separate the tog and the þel had to be revised – I added a second dimension – colour – to my separation and sorted my bundles of tog into a range from light to dark.
The range of colours in the outercoat/tog fibers, with the largest quantity in the medium to dark grey range.
Had I separated the coats with combs from the start I may have ended up with a variegated top of outercoat fibers, but I wouldn’t have discovered the treasure of the actual colour range and the opportunity I would have had in sorting according to colour.
Response
As I pull the individual staple out of the carpet of staples I feel, right there between my hands, how the fibers relate to each other. But what does that mean, how the fibers relate to each other? Well, I’m talking about how the fibers separate from each other – do they let go of the grip easily and smoothly or do I have to struggle? Do the fibers agree with me or do they fight me? The way the fibers separate from each other is an indication of how they will behave later when I spin them.
As I hold one end of the staple in one hand and the other end in the other hand and gently pull I feel the response from the fiber types between my hands. Even if I might not always have words to describe what it is I feel in the response, it is definitely information that my muscles remember and bring back to me as I prepare and spin the wool later on. So, to summarize:
As I separate the coats my hands get a feeling of how easily the fibers separate from each other. Is it smooth or do I need to struggle? After ten, fifteen, umpteen coat separations my hands know what to expect and how to behave to respond to the information from the wool
My hands also get to know the length of the fibers and the coats. After a number of separations they know how long the fibers are. As I later comb or card and then spin my hands already know by feel how long the fibers are and how to work with the wool. My hands also know what distance to keep from each other for a smooth spin.
Every time the fibers go through my hands I get the chance to learn from them, to allow my hands to navigate in the responses I get from the wool. My hands store the information and get a better understanding of how to work with the wool in the upcoming steps o the process.
Þel weft
I have separated both of the fleeces into tog, þel and colour and stored them in my wool storage. They will now have to wait their turn in the fleece queue. When that day comes I will card the þel and spin woolen. This way I will get a light, soft and warm yarn that I will use as weft yarn. If the almost white and the light grey have enough contrast I may play with the colours.
The þel fibers are longer than I expected, but still work beautifully in a rolag.
As I test card the þel I feel how long the fibers are, I’m not used to undercoat fibers of that length. But it cards sweetly and smoothly into a lovely rolag that is a joy to spin. The fibers aren’t as well separated as if I would have teased them, so I’ll have to figure something out when I get to that stage. Perhaps just willowing them is enough. And fun too!
Tog warp
I will comb the tog and spin worsted into a strong warp yarn. This yarn will be strong and shiny and I will use it as a warp yarn. With the tog I have an opportunity to use the colour range to make stripes.
Long tog fibers require dramatic combing choreography.
The tog fibers are very long! This means that I need to be very dramatic as I comb, making the movements large and bold to prevent the combed fibers to loop back on themselves and create tangles. I believe this warp will be a strong one.
The making of a sweet tog bird’s nest.
Test spin
Of course I test spun the preparations too. Nothing fancy, just a quick go with suspended spindles. I spun them in different directions – the tog clockwise and the þel counter-clockwise. I have learned that the threads marry each other in a weave this way. And I get to practice spinning in both directions.
Combed tog spun worsted and clockwise. Carded þel spun woolen and counter-clockwise.
The tog and the þel with their unique characteristics that were so closely intertwined on the hoof have been torn apart and put together in a new fashion to be useful for a new wearer. I hope I can create a textile that makes the fleece justice.
Sometimes I get all giddy thinking about all the treasures I have in my wool storage, all picked and ready to be recreated into something completely new. A treasure chest in my sofa bed. Who knew!
If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see how I separate tog and þel by hand on the darker fleece in my December 2022 video postcard.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
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.
