…I may be posting a day late because I got some new things in the mail this past week and got distracting playing with them. Firstly, MY SPINNING WHEEL PARTS CAME!!! And secondly, I ordered some raw fleece to try processing my own wool which also came.

Spinning Wheel

My spinning wheel parts came! It feels like I have been waiting forever for them to come but they are finally here! And the wheel is functional and wonderful and so so so fast compared to the drop spindle. It feels like I got a decent handle on using the spinning wheel after a bit of practice. It was really cool to see the translation of skills from drop spindling to spinning on the wheel. I even felt comfortable enough to switch to spinning on the wheel for a project I have been working on as a present.

Raw Fleece

I got inspired by others on the Jillian Eve discord to try processing a small amount of fleece to see if I like it. And I did. I now have an even greater desire to get a whole fleece and make a whole project out of it. But I would like a few better. read faster, tools before embarking on that journey. Anyway, I ordered 8 ounces of a Romney Ewe’s fleece from LevelAcresFarm on Etsy. The ewe’s name is Pip which is adorable! So here is her fleece in bags and the staple length of her fleece.

The basic process of scouring wool is wash then dry the wool. The intricacies of this process are innumerable though. The specific process of scouring wool often changes by person as well as by type, quality, and quantity of wool. The process I used for the first of my four little baggies of wool was cold rinse, hot rinse, wash in hot water, hot rinse, towel squish, and then dry. Having now done all of that I don’t think it was all necessary. I think for the rest I will do a warm rinse, wash in hot water, hot rinse, towel squish, and then dry.

They were dry by this morning. So I spent this morning carding them and turning them into tiny little rolag like things. And then spent this afternoon spinning and plying a small amount of it as a tester. And if I am really being honest because I was so darn excited that I did it and I wanted to see what the yarn would look like. It is definitely not the most even yarn BUT I did learn a lot. It was also my first time spinning more of a woolen yarn. I think I did some sort of hybrid long draw but am not 100% certain.

Vlogmas

Also this week! I finished my Vlogmas shirt! It is gorgeous and so cozy and warm! I love it so much and can’t wait to make myself some more handspun clothes but to also make some handspun stuff for friends as well.

Thank you all so much for joining the adventure and reading about what I have been up to this week!

Lots of Love,

The McMullins