Fiber Processing Class Outline

The class will cover (and demonstrate) how to skirt, wash, pick, and card fiber, the different devices that one can use, and the nuances in processing different types of fiber such as wool, mohair and alpaca. We will also cover the basics of dying yarn. You are invited to bring some examples of your own fiber if you have it. An overview of the Fiber Processing Class and cost is at the Classes and Workshop tab; click here to go to that tab: Classes and Workshops

1.   Skirt the fleece

·      Remove the junk fiber, stains, second cuts and large vegetable matter (vm) from the fleece. Use your judgement here on how much time to spend. Basically, get the major junk fiber, second cuts and vm out. For mohair fleeces with tight locks, consider opening up the locks.

·      If you have a tumbler, for most fleeces, put the fleece in the tumbler and small amounts of vm and second cuts can fall out. Particularly useful for mohair and alpaca fleeces. If you have a wool fleece with lots of lanolin, this will probably not do any good.

2.   Wash the fleece (see handout)

·      Washing removes the dirt, grease, some vm, and other impurities from the fleece. The amount of washing, and rinsing, will depend on the type and state of the fleece.

·      For the washing, you can use a washing machine to soak and spin the water out or a sink/container; if the later, you will need to get the water/soap out by wringing it with your hands or some other method. NEVER agitate the fleece.

·      To start, first put the fleece in water with a few tablespoons of soap and let it soak overnight. Since it will be soaking overnight, it is OK to use cold water.

·      The amount of wash cycles and rinse cycles you then perform depends on the fleece and your judgement. As a minimum, consider to always do at least one wash cycles and one rinse cycle.

·      The temperature of the water to use invokes lots of comments. Basically, if you have a fleece with lanolin, best to have the temperature over 160 degrees. If no lanolin, OK to have the temperature between 140 and 160 – which most conventional water heaters can provide.

·      For the wash and rinse cycles, the recommendation is to leave the fleece in for 20-30 minutes. If the fleece has lanolin, do not deviate from this time period and leave it in longer. If no lanolin, there is really no issue to leave it in longer.

3.   Dry and pick out the vm

·      Spread your fleece out on some kind of rack with air flow and let it dry. A fan can help here.

·      By hand, remove noticeable pieces of vm and dirt/diestrus. It is doubtful you can get every speck  – but that’s OK; the picking/carding process can remove the very fine pieces of vm and dirt.)

·      If you have a tumbler, put the fleece thru the tumbler again.

4.   Picking

·      If a fleece is especially compacted, use a mechanical picker to open up the fleece. (This can also remove dirt and vm.)

·      Using a picker can reduce the number of times you card the fiber.

·      Demo

5.   Carding

·      Carding separates and aligns fibers to prepare them for spinning or felting. You can use hand carders or a drum carder. As the fiber goes thru the teeth of the carder, more vm can fall out. Depending on the state of the fleece and what you will do with the fleece, you may want the fleece to be carded multiple times.

·      Demo; then make a batt

6.    Dying (Yarn)

·      Raw fiber, roving/batts, and yarn can all be dyed. The most consistent color can be obtained by dying the raw (clean) fiber and then picking and carding the fiber. Roving can be dyed – but it is more difficult. Yarn is straight-forward to dye. To get multiple skeins dyed the same color, consistent application of the process is needed.

·      See the Dying notes