I am going to dye the yarn a bit later in the process. Again, you can dye the fibers now, or at the batt stage (I’ll show you that in a couple of minutes) or when they have been turned into yarn. Can you picture in your mind all the fibers blended uniformly? Now, when I dye the yarn, each of those fibers is going to react to the dye just a bit differently. Let’s say I am going to dye the yarn pink. The mohair is going to be pink, but with a bit of a kick. The yak, being darker, will be more like a rosy pink. The merino will be pink, and the silk will be pink, only glossy and so forth. Those subtle differences will produce a yarn that will have richness/a depth to the color that will not happen if I used only one fiber. If I were making an afghan with cables and other fancy stitch work, then I would probably want to use one fiber and have a very solid color. That would make the stitch work pop out. As you can see, there are lots of little decisions that need to be made before you start. Of course, you can always change your mind. *g*
I started by taking my big bag of fibers and dividing it into 10 even piles by weight. I chose 10 piles because it made the math easier.
You may be saying to yourself, “Self, those piles don’t look even”. Right you are! They don’t look even, which is why I measure by weight. Each of those piles is 2 ounces. And yes…it did take a while to weigh out all those fibers.But with such soft, luscious fibers to touch, am I complaining? Nyahhh...
The next thing that I do is separate each pile into 2 piles. I can pretty much do that by eye and feel. I do that because 2 ounces is just a little too much for my carder to handle the way that I’d like. So I start “feeding” the fiber into the carder. It really doesn’t matter, in this case, what fiber I start out with.
The image on top is of the BLF going through. The one below shows the tussah silk doing its thing.
Here is a nice video showing you the process. She has the same carder as I do, only hers is electric, while mine has a hand crank. Would it be catty to mention that she is the wife of the man who makes these carders, Mr. Strauch. no less? Ehehhehehe He’s a nice man. I had the opportunity to chat on the phone with him while in the process of deciding what kind of carder to get. I’m very happy with the carder I finally bought.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44m18Szd8Mk&feature=feedu
Once the carder has filled up with fiber, it needs to be removed. The fibers are now in a form called a batt, and yes, it is very soft and fluffy like batting for a quilt.
Here is a picture of my fibers after going through the carder once. If you look carefully, you can still see some of the unblended fibers. I’ll send it through again until it is blended the way I want it for this project.
Now I have a completed batt. It just beautiful in my mind and once I have all the fibers carded, I can start spinning. Here is a picture of three batts lying across the back of a chair. The lighting isn’t the best, so the color is a little off. It is not white, but more of a taupe color, with lots of shine from the mohair.
I can then take a batt and roll it up into a "cloud". The cloud keeps the fibers from getting tangled and such, while I am making more.
That’s about all right now. Carding is a fun activity, but slow, and again I don’t do it 24/7. What do I do when I’m not carding? Stay tuned! *g*
