Down on the Farm Fiber Processing

Article by Susan Pufpaff

 

Natural fibers are addicting. If you are reading this article you are probably already on your way to becoming a fiber junky.  As addictions go, it’s fairly harmless.  It doesn’t cause weight gain (at least on your body), and there are no known medical side effects.  It does lend itself to creating wonderful gifts, meeting new friends, conversation with like- minded individuals and spinning has even been known to improve the communication between parents and their teens.

 

Now as a budding fiber enthusiast, you have either just bought your first fleece straight off a friends sheep, alpaca or llama or you have just received the results of the first time you have shorn your new  “spinners flock.”  Now what should happen? 

 

Just in case you haven’t yet learned all the fiber junky vocabulary, let’s start with some terms.

Fleece – the fiber that has be shorn off of an animal, usually a sheep, llama, alpaca, goat or rabbit.

Shearing – the removing of fiber from the source animal, think buzz hair cut.

In the grease – the fleece before it has been washed

Washing – the removal of dirt and grease with hot water and some type of cleaning agent. This does not involve agitation, just hot soaks.

Picking – the opening up of a fleece to make it uniformly fluffed and to allow more of the hidden “stuff” in a fleece to fall out.  At home this is usually done by pulling the fleece apart by hand, but the bigger the operation the larger the machine used to pull the fleece apart. Picking does not mean physically removing every bit of vegetable matter and other items from a fleece.

Carding – the organizing of fibers into a uniform web with the use of some type of tool with a rough surface.  The first type of card was actually the heads from the teasel plant.

Roving – the organizing of the carded web into a long continuous “rope”

Batting – the organizing of the carded web into a multi-layered sheet of fiber.

Spinning – the twisting of fibers, usually from a roving, into a firm, strong strand of one or more plies

Felting ­– the tangling of fibers without spinning, weaving or knitting, defined as non-woven fabric using moisture and agitation.

Fulling – the shrinking of fabric to strengthen and make denser.  This can be done to felt, weaving or knitting.

Dyeing – the adding of color to fiber, usually using a hot water soak to help set the dye. This can be done at any stage of the fiber process from dying a fleece in the grease to dying finished garments.

Setting the Dye – actually changing the chemical structure of the fiber so that the color becomes a part of the fiber.

Wool – usually refers to the fiber coming off a sheep

Mohair – the fiber coming off an Angora goat

Angora - the fiber coming off an Angora rabbit

Alpaca - the fiber coming off an Alpaca

Llama – the fiber coming off a Llama 

Now that the fiber language has been defined, lets talk about what it take to make that fleece coming out of the pasture into a beautiful garment, art work or other useful item.

A true fiber purist will want to do the entire process with their own hands and never let that wonderful fleece out of their sight until the garment is completed.  This involves hand washing, please don’t try using your washer for this project.  Remember that agitation makes felt.  Only agitate when felt is the desired product.  Then the fiber must be dried and picked, either by hand or with some sort of tool or machine to allow carding to be uniform. Carding can be done with hand cards, a drum carder or a small cottage carder or commercial machine. After the fiber has been carded, it is ready to be spun.  Spinning can be accomplished with a spinning stick, drop spindle, spinning wheel or spinning frame.  Spinning frames are again a more commercial way to get the job done.   After spinning, the thread that has been created can either be used as a single thread or plied with more threads to create anything from a two, three, four or more ply yarn.  The yarn can then be used to knit, crochet or weave. 

Traditionally, the first part of the fiber process to be “commercialized” was the washing and carding of the fiber into either roving or batting.  Most individuals will discover why after they have gone through the process with one or more fleeces.  The washing and carding portion of the process is probably the step that takes the longest to do by hand and is also the dirtiest. Also it is difficult to get good quality carded fiber by hand without expending many hours and lots of practice.  This resulted in the establishment of some of the first industries in new communities that were settled in the Americas and many places where waterpower was available spawned both grain mills and carding mills. All the first carding mills did was pick and card the fiber.  In fact, many times the sheep were actually washed before they were shorn.  Today, most fiber animals do not get a shampoo before the cut, so most modern carding mills also provide washing services as well as carding for their customers.

The next step to be mechanized is the spinning.  Most mills that do custom spinning need a minimum amount of fiber to make it worthwhile to start up their machinery.  The larger the machine a mill is using, the greater amount of fiber is needed to “load” the machine and get good results.  This also applies to carding equipment in that the larger the machine, the more fiber is needed to make it worthwhile to start up the machine.  This is why some of the larger custom carding mills have 5 to 10 pound minimums and charge extra for smaller amounts.

There are currently even mills that are available to custom knit your fiber into socks, or weave your fiber into blankets or yardage.  It all depends on how much time an individual wants to invest verses how much money. 

Personally, my fiber habit started with three Angora rabbits, progressed to a spinning wheel, knitting machine, learning to felt, and getting sheep to have wool to blend with my rabbits. Now I own and operate a small custom carding mill along with raising Shetland sheep who are guarded by my 4 wonderful Llamas. I have retired from the rabbit-rearing portion of my fiber habit.  You can visit my mill on line at http://fibermill.yurtboutique.com and take a photo tour of a small carding mill.

 

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