Carding Experiment - Part 1

Recently my friend Jude directed me to a discussion about drum carding on the Yarn Harlot's blog.  After a class with Judith MacKenzie, she determined that there was certain way to blend a batt of fiber.


Judith recommended that one feed all the fiber on perpendicular to the drum card.  I decided to see what the difference was in the preparation.  I previously just fed the fiber in willy nilly and did not pay too much attention to the method.


I received the fiber sandwich fiber from here.  Since I had two clumps of fiber, I did an experiment on the carding technique.


Here is the first batt fed perpendicular to the drum.

First time through.

Second time through.


Here is the second batt fed parallel to the drum.

 First time through.

 Second time through.

It was easier to feed the fiber through parallel since I could fit more fiber on the drum the first time out.  I was able to distribute the fiber more evenly this way too.


However, the batts are fluffier (more volume) feeding the fiber perpendicular (method 1) as you can see here.

I'm thinking that one batt would be easier to spin woolen which is not my default technique.  I definitely am a worsted spinner.  Off to test my theory.