Okay, time for an update.
Last week I had a text from Elen informing me that the three fleeces were now washed and dried, and just needed me to come up and start on the next step- the carding. I replied with the pitiful excuse of being in Yorkshire on my wedding anniversary holiday with my wife, and therefore claimed to be unavailable to help out. This gave me a stay of execution of a week.
My time ran out today.
So, the next step in the process: carding the wool.
Fortunately, Elen has a carding machine. Doing this by hand is no fun, I was informed.
Carding is essential a firm brushing of the wool, with the aim of getting the fibres more or less lined up and all pointing in the same direction, prior to spinning, so as to give a smoother and stronger thread. It also allows a more thorough cleaning of the wool, as you get to pick it over to remove grass and knotty bits.
First you grab a bit of washed fleece and pull it apart somewhat, in order to open it out. This makes carding it easier. At this point you can remove any obvious lumps, unsuitable bits, and obvious plant material which may still be in the wool.
You feed the wool into the carder, and turn the handle so that the wool is pulled into the machine and begins to wind around the larger of the two wheels.
Having done this, you pull the carded wool off the wheel.
Then repeat as many times as necessary to get the wool into reasonable shape. How often depends on the state of the wool (lumps and cleanliness), the wool type and quality, and how smooth you want it in the end. 3-4 times was what we ended up using on this hebridean fleece.
This is how it looks compared to the uncarded fleece. The piece on the left has been through the carder three times.
Then you roll your carded bit of fleece up
Stretch it out a little (the wool fibres should slide smoothly over each other as this happens - if they don't, card it again. You soon learn the correct 'feel') with a bit of a twist to help hold it together
Then coil it up into a tidy bundle (which probably has a technical wool-spinning name, but as I'm not even an apprentice yet Elen declined to initiate me into the mysteries of terminology.
The next step seems to be to mutter something about needing a shower, perhaps some food, and getting properly dressed (Elen was in her nightie when I arrived, at 1pm or thereabouts. It is a long time since a lady invited me to her house and greeted me in her undergarments
). The net result of this is to leave the poor naïve sap who foolishly expressed an interest in wool with three huge bags of fleece and a carding machine, and instructions to "get on with it". I began to see the advantages of child labour at around this point.
Elen returned in a while, more modestly dressed, and instead of saying something like "Is that all you've managed? I could have made a fairisle sweater and some socks by now" she informed me that I seemed to have the hang of it, so Elen helped by pulling apart the wool, and I carded it.
After a bit, rain stopped play, so we went indoors, where my expected bowl of gruel and half a cup of water turned out to be a Spanish omelette with fresh green, and lots of earl grey tea. We chatted some more, and looked at the fruits of my labours. I estimate 2 hours of work, possibly more, possibly less.
Elen said that is about a third of a fleece's worth, which means there's just another two and two-thirds to go. I will have to go back for more.
I will indeed. it has been a pleasure so far. Thanks Elen
