{"id":2405,"date":"2019-01-12T10:07:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T09:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2019-01-30T18:51:14","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T17:51:14","slug":"the-superpowers-of-a-fleece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/the-superpowers-of-a-fleece\/","title":{"rendered":"The superpowers of a fleece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a long time I have wanted to spin a yarn and knit a project where I start from the characteristics of the fleece and make a yarn that highlights the superpowers of that particular fleece. I wanted all the decisions I made from preparing the wool to designing and knitting a garment to be made with consideration to the fleece I had started with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is part of a new blog series. In four posts I will take you through preparing, spinning, designing and knitting a garment, looking at consistency and some calculations. I will use the wool from one sheep as a case study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A finull\/rya gold medalist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the 2017 Swedish fleece championships<\/a> I got my hands on a beautiful, dark grey finull\/rya crossbred. It is very soft with airy staples and mostly undercoat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From spring to autumn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ewe who grew this winner fleece was shorn in the spring, which usually means a little coarser wool and shorter staples than the autumn shearing. This fleece, though, was wonderfully soft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A finull\/rya mix and gold medalist at the 2017 Swedish fleece championships, shorn in the spring. Sheperdess: Margau Wohlfart\u2013Leijdstr\u00f6m<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The competition had taken place in September, and I realized that the ewe probably was still wearing her summer coat. I contacted the shepherdess, Margau, and I was right, she hadn’t done the autumn shearing yet. A couple of weeks later, I had the autumn shearing in my hands. A little longer staples and even softer than the spring shearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Same sheep, shorn in the autumn. The staples are a bit longer and the tips are slightly sun-bleached.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finding the superpowers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a long time I was thinking about what I wanted to do with the fleeces. The spring fleece was a gold medalist and I felt a responsibility to make the most out of it. I wanted to let the wool tell me how it wanted to be spun to become its best yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To look for the superpowers in a fleece I need to examine the fleece itself. But I can also get some clues from considering the characteristics of the breed in general, in this case two breeds \u2013 Swedish finewool and Rya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swedish finewool and Rya<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wool from Swedish finull<\/a> (closely related to Finn) is typically very fine and soft with a high crimp (2\u201310 waves per cm). It has well defined staples of up to 8 cm. It is a good choice for spinning a lofty yarn with longdraw from carded rolags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rya<\/a> has very long staples (up to 30 cm) of strong and shiny fibers and about 60% overcoat. A worsted spun yarn from combed top would be a good choice for this kind of wool. Rya is often used in weaving. The combination of the two can make a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A finewool\/rya crossbred<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The shepherdess Margau<\/a> has a flock of 25 finewool and rya sheep and has also crossbred these for several years. This has resulted in wool with the best of the superpowers of both breeds \u2013 strong, shiny and soft. She has won several medals from the Swedish fleece championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wool I got from Margau is truly magnificent. I am a sucker for grey. This wool has shades of medium to dark grey with a hint of brown. The wool shorn in the spring has the staple length of finewool sheep, up to 8 cm. It is very soft and airy. I would say it looks more like finewool than rya, but the staples are more open than finewool. Finewool can be tedious to prepare since the staples usually are very thin and defined. This wool is a lot easier to prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The autumn shearing has longer staples and a bit lighter. The tips are slightly sun bleached. The overall feeling of the wool is soft, but it is also clear that the wool is strong and shiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Staples from the spring and autumn shearing of a finewool\/rya ewe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This summer I had made a tweed experiment<\/a> where I blended the autumn shearing with some sari silk. I really got a taste for the mixture between the dark wool and the colourful specks of sari silk. I decided that I wanted to use the spring and autumn fleeces together and blend them with the sari silk for a tweedy yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiber preparation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to be really thorough and sample my way to the best yarn for this wool. I knew from the experiment I had done earlier that carded rolags was the best way to prepare this wool. Before that could happen, though, I needed to go through a few other steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixing the fleeces<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The spring and autumn shearings were a bit different \u2013 the spring shearing was shorter because most of the nutrition had gone to the lamb during gestation and lambing period. The autumn shearing had longer staples and were also a bit sun-bleached. I wanted all of these characteristics in the yarn \u2013 the short staples for loftiness and the longer for strength \u2013 so I mixed the fleeces in a big basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teasing and blending<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I used my combing station to tease the wool. This is the way I usually tease before carding, it is a quite efficient method. In this step I could also blend the sari silk with the wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sweet sari silk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I loaded the stationary comb with the wool, not considering staple ends or directions, I just loaded ruthlessly to about a third of the height of the tines. At the top I added the sari silk. I combed three passes and then removed the blended fiber from the stationary comb tuft by tuft. This left me with clouds of wool blended with sari silk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I am quite used to carding and I have my way of doing it that I think works quite well. Still, after watching the Interweave downloadable video How to Card Wool: Four Spinners, Four Techniques<\/a>, I made some adjustments. I used to load the whole width of the card with wool, but now I leave a one inch passepartout of the card empty on the sides and top of the carding pad. This way I make sure that all the fibers are actually on the carding pads and not escaping through the sides. I also pay more attention to rolling the rolag between the cards to make neater and more uniform rolags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carding is something I love doing, and with these adjustment it became even more satisfying to see the fluffy teased clouds turn into proper and uniform rolags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sweet hand-carded rolags with specks of recycled sari silk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spinning and plying<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wanted a soft and round yarn, so my idea was to spin a 3-ply yarn with long draw. I made lots of samples with long draw in different thicknesses, but I wasn’t really happy with the results. All the samples felt too dense and not soft enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spinning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For a while, English longdraw<\/a> had been lurking in the back of my mind, but I was a bit reluctant to try it. If I liked it it would mean that I would have to spin everything with english longdraw and I wasn’t sure I would be able to do that with the consistency I wanted. But I tried it and realized that I had found the best way to spin the rolags. The samples were soft and lofty, and it felt just right. I ended up with a sport weight thickness that seemed perfect for the wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I sampled my way to the best 3-ply yarn for my fleece<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spinning longdraw requires really well carded rolags. With any unevenness in the carding there is a risk that the yarn will be uneven and\/or break in the draw. This is even more true for English longdraw where you draw one arm’s length in one motion. Having little specks of short fibers in the rolags feels a bit counter productive here. I didn’t let that stop me, though, I just had to take extra care in examining the roving before setting the twist. I think the yarn broke just a handful of times during the whole spinning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I spun the yarn I could feel the amount of blending of the two fleeces. In some rolags the drafting was really easy, almost too easy. This meant that I had mostly shorter staples from the spring shearing in this rolag. In others, the drafting was a bit tougher due to a higher amount of longer staples from the autumn shearing. The longer staples were important to the durability of the yarn, but too much of the longer wool would make a denser yarn than I wanted. Had I done this preparation in the summer I would definitely have mixed the fleeces by willowing<\/a> them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A bobbin full of yum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Plying<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I ply I like to transfer the singles together to a new bobbin. This way I start plying from the same end as I started spinning. It also allows me to go through the singles one more time before plying. I don’t need to handle three individual singles when plying. Instead I ply them in a bundle straight off one bobbin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A finished skein of final\/rya tweedy yarn, full of superpowers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Getting to know a fleece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This wool has gone through my hands numerous times. From sorting, teasing, carding, spinning and plying. I try to read the fleece to find out what I need to do to let it shine. In handling the fiber I get to know know what it feels like, how it sounds, the staple length, the crimp, how well it drafts, how much lanolin is in the wool. Every time the fiber goes through my hands I get new pieces of the puzzle. It is like every step in the process gives me a deeper and broader knowledge and understanding of the wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some tweedy loveliness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coming up:<\/strong> In the next part of this blog series I will dive into consistency in all the steps in the process and look at how I take measure \u2013 literally \u2013 to end up with a yarn that is even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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