# Learning to card wool



## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Iâm needing some input on my carding technique. If any of you professionals out there are on YouTube, would you care to critique me and let me know what I could be doing differently to achieve a more consistent texture to my rolags and help prevent breakage? 
This is Leicester Longwool and I am carding in-the-grease. 
Thank you! :kiss:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FauphLNw43w[/ame]


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Jill, I'm only half way through your video, but a couple things I notice. 

Pick (fluff) the locks like you are now doing. Lay the locks from heel to toe instead of haphazardly on the card. The purpose of carding is to got the carded woold going in the same direction. Your causing yourself more work.

Yes, you are carding too hard. Part of this is because the locks are jumbled up on the cards.

When working in the grease, make sure it is warm. Even putting your locks in a very, very low oven will help melt the lanolin and make carding (and spinning) easier.

Back to the vid.

I think you'll have better luck with the longwool in the grease if the lanolin is warm. You can also spin 'in the lock'. Once you have picked (fluffed) the locks by hand, go ahead and spin! Again, this is much easier if the lanolin is warm and can easily slip


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

I&#8217;m not too worried about the grease and dirt with this set of cards. I bought them explicitly for that reason. I have my nice clean pair for the wool that has already been washed. 

I am knitting in the grease because I DO love the feel of the lanolin on my hands and the tackiness of the rolag when it is ready to spin. I also like that it DOES NOT come apart so easily either! 

What I am comprehending from reading, watching videos, and you guys, is that maybe I should be keeping the wool a little more between the cards, by doing more heal to toe motions. Remove the wool from the card if it gets too far down in, and then brush it while it is on top of the card. I hope got it, now.


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Wind.....all is not lost. You could always card in the grease, and then just use the cards to comb Cabin's hair for an extended period of time. You could call it therapy, massage, etc.
Then simply have him wash _his_ hair. 

Jdog carded and spun a bit of wool at my place a few weeks back, (I was knitting) and I now have that bit and some other wool "spun in the grease". This is my first experience with greasy wool yarn. It would be fabulously nasty to wear, me thinks.  
Should I wash it all somehow and expect it to act more like fluffy fiber when it dries ?


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

WHAT? Why you little SH**â¦â¦â¦..you carded all that wool, and then some! Yr just like my DH, always trying to show me up!

Well, if itâs for the socks you said youâd make ME. I donât want the wool washed. I have nasty DRY feet and I want to keep as much lanolin in the wool as possible. My feet donât sweat much because I am always so cold, Iâm going to see how long I can get away without washing the pair I am working on now:yuck:. Besides, I donât mind smelling like an old sheep, keeps people from wanting to hangout with me! I get more done that way. :smiley-laughing013:

Hey, are you busy today? I want to see your contraption for boiling sap. I need ideas for a better system here!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

JDog, I was thinking about this while trying to sleep (yes, fiber dreams). Try heating up the locks with a blow dryer to warm up the lanolin. When lanolin is warm, it is so much easier to work with and oh-so-very nice!


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Thank you for the detailed explanation, Wind. 
I'll use your method and blast water everywhere just because. 

JDog...come over anytime tomorrow or Saturday.
I'll be here, playing in the mud.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Guess the wool's not for socks. :awh:

Weekdays are better for me. DH keeps me busy on the weekends that he is home. Think the 4x4 will make it?


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

The 4x4 might make it....depends who's driving.......:icecream:

I wouldn't wish this wool on anyone, let alone something so full of delicate and fluffy potential as a nice thick super-chunky pink pair of socks. 
When I get time, I'll do them socks for yuh. 
I know they just wouldn't be the same, comin' from nobody else and all.
I may require a promise, in writing, that you'll never wear them where they might actually come in contact with the floor, or, Providence forbid, the ground outside. :run:


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Felt/full them, put leather soles on them and they would make great slippers. Then you could knit them as big as you like FR, well within reason.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

When you get time? The APOCALYPSE will be here by then!


DD wants your eldest to go to a fish fry this evening. So, if that can be arranged, I&#8217;ll be there when he is able to relinquish for the day.


You think I&#8217;m a crazy enough driver to get through?


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Marchwind....... within reason ? :sob: 
Who ever established the rule of reason, anyhow....and where is it written ?

Pugsly may be indisposed this evening. There is a large group of men and boys coming from abroad to slog sap buckets through the mud with us for a couple days..... and Pugsly is the ramrod. 

The road is firming up, so, you might have the skills required to traverse, in the event you visit today or Monday.
Andrea and company are coming to slog sap buckets through the mud with us on Monday, so.... 
I do so miss my knitting time.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Well, I&#8217;m only coming ONCE today, so they better make up their minds! 
I&#8217;d rather get a view before the weekend, today is the day, gives me time to put DH to work on a new system THIS weekend!


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Well then, yer burnin' daylight.
My coffee break is over, too. 
See yuh soon.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

Can I come after the land auction at 10? 
I was thinking more like this afternoon.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Here's a link to a video (thanks JDog for teaching me how) on how I learned to hand card. JDog had asked me to post something here. Sometimes it is so much easier to show than tell. I don't always have the right words. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV0YZFGTspQ[/ame]


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

You did WONDERFUL! :thumb:
We want more, we want more! :rock:


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