Guide to Processing Wool: How to Wash, Card and Comb Wool

Spinners by nature like to make things from scratch. Making their own fabric isn’t enough so they start making their own yarn—and many of them even begin the exciting journey of processing their own fibers. While your friends and family may be wondering when you’re going to buy your first flock of sheep (perhaps you have already?), our spinning experts compiled this amazing free eBook dedicated to the art of wool processing.

From instructions on how to properly wash wool to how to flick, hand-, and drumcard wool to how to use minicombs, this free eBook should make the process of preparing raw wool for spinning easy and fun. It's great for beginners, as well as more experienced spinners looking for tips. Inside you'll find:

• Fiber Preparation: What are Roving, Top, and Sliver? - In this article, Abby explains the difference between worsted yarns and woolen yarns and goes over the different types of fiber preparations available for handspinners.

• Washing Wool - Follow Robin as she teaches you how to wash wool. There are many methods used for washing wool, depending on the type of wool you’re washing, the water you’re using, the space you have, and the quantity of raw wool you need to wash.

• Flick Carding - Flick carding wool can be the first step of hand carding. Many fibers from fine to coarse, especially raw wool, are suitable for flick carding.

• The Handcarding Process - Wool handcards can handle a wide range of fiber types and diameters. The purpose of handcarding wool is to open, separate, and straighten the wool fibers.

• Drumcarding - New spinners often find using handcarders for large projects to be a tedious task. Using a drumcarder can change their perspective. Follow Robin’s carding instructions and learn how to adjust your drumcarder, maintain it, and eventually make processing wool as much part of the journey as the spinning and knitting.

• Minicombs - This article focuses of the basics of using minicombs to prepare locks of fiber for spinning yarns. Yarn spun short draw using these preparations can be considered semiworsted.