I keep forgetting to show you our drum carder and our progress with it! It keeps seeming like a large task. So instead I'll do it badly, and you ask questions all you want.
We ordered one from a small maker (Classic Carder) while we were at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, back in spring. He had to make it by hand, and deal with other orders from the event, and so it came the day before Pennsic. Too late to prepare any wool for sale at Pennsic, but perfect timing to throw it (very carefully) in the truck, and find a mentor at Pennsic. (Also just in time to avoid shipping shutdowns from the UK.)
At Pennsic, we went to all the wool processing classes, and showed people photos of our cute ancient sheep, and cleaned wool in the shop, and waited for a mentor to materialize. Honestly, this is the SCA. It was a totally valid strategy, and it worked.
This is Kri. Kri is great. She taught us so much in a couple hours, and just for love of the game. With Kri's help, we knew what we needed to know to make our first couple batts of prepared wool.
Also props to Jacob, who always puts in the time and research when it comes to buying tools. Having watched a few videos since Pennsic, I'm realizing that our carder is really nice. Motorized, with variable speed, with a separate motor for each roller so that the speeds are independently adjustable.
Here it is, slowly pulling in uncombed chunks of washed wool, and carding them into a coherent mat where the fibers mostly run the same way. Before we feed the pieces of wool into the carder, we use a flicker, which just looks like a cat brush, to open up any tangled ends and brush out matted bits.
The process is slow. This is hours of work here:
So far, we've processed only part of one fleece. Soay don't produce a lot of wool, but even so, there's a reason our ancestors spent a massive percent of their time processing fiber and spinning. Fabric is a huge commitment of cultural resources, prior to modern technology.
It is pretty fun and satisfying, though. Once we have more, I'm gonna do some wet felting.
Close-up for nerds who want a better look at the texture. It's very short staple, but really quite fine and soft. There are a smattering of white guard hairs and it's impossible to get them all out. But we love it very much.
