Beginner’s Series: Wool – Part 3

After you have washed your fleece and it’s all squeaky clean, you need to get it ready to be spun into yarn. There are options for doing this, but thankfully not too many options. It’s pretty easy to decide.

From The Lock

First option is to spin it from the lock. If you look at your fleece you’ll see that the hairs are sort of clumped together into standard-sized sections. These are called locks. If you’re gentle, you can pull one of them apart from all the others.

Fluff up the “tip” end, which is the part that faced away from the sheep. Usually it’s all stuck together. All right. Now you have a little, very short, roving. Very very short. This method is really only recommended for sheep with a looooong staple length. Like a four inch minimum.

If you want to go this route, but you’re having trouble fluffing up those ends, you can get what’s called a “Flick Carder.” It’s the little one in the lower part of the picture. Here is a great demo on using it.
But be warned. For any spinner, this sort of video is rather like grocery shopping when you’re hungry.

Hand Cards a.k.a. Hand Carders

Second option, moving in the direction of cheapest to most expensive, are hand carders.