As part of the Sheepspot Guild, the October/November activity is to prepare some fiber to spin with tools and after spinning the desired yarn, to make something with the spun yarn. I had originally thought to pull out a mystery braid of fiber and experiment with color and started thinking about that project and then after seeing some of the posts of the others in the guild, I decided to buy some Good Clean Fiber from Clemes and Clemes and pull out my drum carder to spin some yarn to knit the Hamilton Hat.
The red/purple braid was split half and one half was split up into 2 piles of red and purple and the other half was just split down the middle lengthwise. I used the blending board and it was not that successful but I got 2 rollags off the board with some nicks in my hands. I spun the red rollag on the first bobbin of my Sparrow. I then spun the 2 lengthwise strips on 2 other bobbins. The final rollag of purple was just messy so I decided to put it through the drum carder once and got a great batt which was so easily spun on the 4th bobbin. I will think about how to ply the bobbins later.
The Good Clean Fiber consisted of 2 colors and 2 different fleeces - Black in Merino x Lincoln x Cormo x Wensleydale #22315 (4 ounces) and White in BFL x Clun Forest x Texel #21137 (4 ounces). The black is much softer and the white more substantial but fluffier. I used my fingers to open up all the locks and then ran it through the drum carder (I have an electric Duncan carder) twice getting rid of some of the neps. The black had more dirt while carding. I ended up with 4 - 1 ounce bundles/batts. I subscribed to Long Thread and received access to the videos and watched a drum carder one to refamiliarize myself with the drum carder. I also had to reach out to Duncan Fibers in Oregon to order a new drive band as mine had hardened and had a kink so the licker didn’t turn with the drum without getting stuck in the same place.
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