How Do You Prepare Wool For Spinning Into Yarn?
Handspinning your own wool into yarn can be lots of fun and a rewarding experience. If your wool is coming directly from the sheep, you’ll need to wash and skirt your fleece before using these instructions. First, pick out any large clumps of vegetable matter (VM). Much of it is picked out in skirting, but some stays and must be removed. Next, go through your fleece carefully and search for short guard hairs. Any clumps of fiber under an inch long won’t card or spin well, so they’re best removed and discarded. Next, feed your wool into your electric carders (if you are lucky enough to have an electric carding machine). The roving you pull from it is ready to spin! If you do not have an electric carder, use small clumps of wool at a time, place it on the center of one paddle, and with the handles pointing AWAY from each other, brush out the wool. When you’ve worked out all the knots, peel the carded wool out of the bristles and roll into a sausage. It is ready to spin!
