Wool Obsession

A new issue of Spindle and Wheel was published recently, and it’s got a very informative article about preparing handpainted fiber for spinning. The article explains how to pre-draft or strip your fiber into the thickness you want for spinning, but more importantly, shows you how much difference the fiber preparation method you choose makes in the finished yarn you’ll end up with.

I encourage you to look at the article - you may be surprised at how dramatic the differences are between the pre-drafting, stripping, and combined pre-drafting/stripping methods. The pre-drafted sample shows a lot of color blending which more subtle color variations (although it’s hard to tell exactly now much because the single made from the pre-drafted sample as plyed with a white single), the stripping method resulted in a self-striped yarn, and the combined method resulted in longer, more distinct, stripes of color.

If you want to see the differences for yourself, buy some handpainted roving you like, prepare small portions of the fiber using the pre-drafting, stripping, and combined methods, and spin a sample from each of the small portions you prepared. Preparing small samples really is the best way to learn new techniques.

If you’re looking for a place to buy handpainted roving, check out the current auctions on eBay:

St Seraphina HAND-PAINTED MERINO TOP "Harvest" US $9.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Nov-20-2008 18:33:00 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

St Seraphina HAND-PAINTED MERINO TOP "Tropical Sea" US $9.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Nov-20-2008 18:48:00 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Handpainted Soft Wool Blend 4 oz Roving Purples yarn US $9.95 End Date: Sunday Nov-23-2008 9:23:08 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

Handpainted Soft Wool Blend 4 oz Roving "Maine Coast" US $9.95 End Date: Tuesday Nov-25-2008 7:54:19 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

Handpainted Soft Wool Blend 4 oz Roving "Maine Lobstah" US $9.95 End Date: Tuesday Nov-25-2008 7:54:52 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

Handpainted Roving Soft Wool Blend "Grapevines" US $9.95 End Date: Tuesday Nov-25-2008 7:55:25 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

Hand Painted Border Leicester/ Tunis Wool Roving US $5.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Nov-25-2008 9:46:31 PST Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Hand Painted Border Leicester/ Tunis Wool Roving US $5.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Tuesday Nov-25-2008 9:47:42 PST Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

2 Bombyx silk caps bell hand painted spin / felt 22343 US $4.99 End Date: Friday Nov-28-2008 20:39:43 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

2 Bombyx silk caps bell hand painted spin / felt 22344 US $4.99 End Date: Friday Nov-28-2008 20:39:44 PST Buy it now | Add to watch list

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When you first become interested in the fiber arts, especially in spinning, you can quickly become overwhelmed by all the terms people throw around. While this post won’t attempt to completely cover all the terminology involved, I’ll take a stab here at something a lot of beginning spinners ask - what’s the difference between various fiber preparations - roving, top, etc.?

But first, I’ll mention two broad categories of prepared fiber - carded fiber vs. combed fiber.

The combing process aligns fiber in a parallel fashion and removes the shorter bits. You should use combed fiber when you want to make a true worsted yarn. In contrast, the carding process retains both the longer and shorter fibers together, and aligns the fibers somewhat, but in a less parallel, more jumbled fashion than you’ll find in a combed preparation. Carded fiber is used to make a woolen yarn, and is also often used for needle felting or wet felting. Woolen yarn is fluffier and has trapped air in it, which will result in a warmer finished garment. Worsted yarn is smoother, more dense, and more lustrous.

A batt is a carded fiber preparation made with a drum carder. It is basically a sheet or rectangular mass of carded fiber.

A roving is a batt that has been sectioned or drawn out into a long strand of overlapping fibers, and has had a little bit of twist added to it.

Pencil roving is like regular roving, but is thinner.

A sliver (pronounced with a long “EYE” sound, not like something you might get in your finger), is similar to a roving, but doesn’t have any added twist.

Pin-drafted roving is a roving on which a pin-drafting machine has been used to further align the fiber and make the preparation more even, but not as even or parallel as you’d get in a combed preparation.

A rolag is a hand-carded fiber preparation. Once the fiber is carded on the hand cards, it is taken off and rolled up kind of link a fruit rollup.

Top is fiber that has been combed and pulled out into a long strands.

And finally, a quick word of advice. Although the technically correct term for a long strand of combed fiber is a “top” and the correct term for a long strand of carded fiber is a “roving”, many people - even people who are selling you the fiber - often use the terms interchangeably. So, if you are set on making either a true worsted or true woolen yarn, make sure you double-check to find out if the fiber has been combed or carded before purchasing!

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