I should have listened to Dame Enid

Back when I first decided to try cleaning, carding, dyeing and spinning a raw fleece to turn it into something useful, my friend and textile mentor, Dame Enid Aurelia of the Tin Isles, told me to be fussy. If the staple wasn’t long enough, throw it out. If It’s too dirty, throw it out. If it gets moths, DEFINITELY THROW IT OUT!

Did I listen? Of course not. I was too afraid that I would never be able to get more fleeces. This week, I have conceded that she was right.

I am slowly carding the fleece I washed last week, and ruthlessly throwing out anything that doesn’t look worth my effort. I have pitched another small bag of stuff I had previously washed and carded, but now must admit probably isn’t even any good for a felting project. I have the nice fleece drying now:

I even dug into the last box of what I thought was unwashed fleece, only to discover that it is actually carded and ready to use. So for the next little while, I will be carding, combing, dyeing and spinning. Fortunately, there will be a lot less nasty bits to deal with, now that I have finally learned Dame Enid’s lesson.

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Wool, wool, more wool (and dye)

  My son’s craft shaming finally had some effect. For years, I have had several fleeces in my basement, but done nothing with them. This weekend, I pitched one fleece that I had washed years ago, but finally had to admit had such a short staple it was unusable except maybe for felting (and as much as I would like to take up that craft, I have to draw the line somewhere). I washed another that appeared to have been washed once already, then hung it on a screen to dry – I’m hoping that the scattered rain drops this evening will not turn into a real rain, as I don’t have anywhere indoors to store all that wet wool. I put out another to soak, along with an alpaca fleece.

As I was pulling out fleeces and Rubbermaid tubs to soak them in, I came across a bag of weld and a bag of madder roots. Earlier this week, I discovered a bag of Queen Anne’s lace tea in my freezer. It appears I may be forced to get back on track with some carding, dyeing and spinning!  

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