{"id":3991,"date":"2019-12-21T07:55:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T06:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=3991"},"modified":"2019-12-21T07:55:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T06:55:38","slug":"carding-rolags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/carding-rolags\/","title":{"rendered":"Carding rolags"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I do love a well-made rolag. But making even hand-carded rolags takes practice. I have carded rolags for at least four sweaters. For one sweater I actually calculated<\/a> the amount of rolags: I used 576 rolags for one single sweater. That’s a lot of practice. Many followers have asked me lately about hand-carding rolags. In this post I describe how I do and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Hand-carded rolags in backlight. Hard to beat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A wise spinner once said: The spinning is in the preparation. I find this to be very true. So much of the quality of the spinning is born in the preparation. Not only is a thorough prep essential to the quality of the yarn, but the preparation stage also gives you a chance to get to know the fiber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even and consistent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I want my rolags to be even<\/strong> and consistent<\/strong>: Even as even distribution of the fibers<\/em> throughout the rolag. Consistent as in the size and shape of the rolags<\/em>. This is my goal. There are several ways to get there and I will show you my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even through teasing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing I do is tease the wool \u2013 I open up the staples to make a pre-prep before the actual carding. I do this to avoid the risk of over-carding. If I card wool too much fibers will break and leave nepps. One could argue that teasing takes longer and leaves more waste. But I’m not in it for the speed. The faster, unteased, alternative will result in lower quality yarn with the waste in the yarn instead of outside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How I tease<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I tease in three different ways: With combs, with a flick carder or with my hands. I can also tease with my hand-cards. The important thing is that I open up the staples so that the carding is really just arranging the fibers in an even and consistent manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n