When my boys were toddlers and we still lived in LA County, I decided to indulge my romantic longing to learn how to spin wool. I made a spindle out of Playdough and some crossed sticks (yes it was ugly), and gingerly approached a small bag of carded fleece I'd been given at the Renaissance Faire. It was kind of baffling, and the book I checked out of the library on how to tackle the fleece was not helpful. This was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and there was no YouTube. Anyway, over time I figured out how to get the first bits of fleece twisted enough to attach to the spindle, and then how to balance the spindle so that when I spun it it didn't wobble too badly, and then how to get the fluff to turn into yarn. The final problem was that I could only get about a yard of yarn to form on the spinning spindle before I had to catch it, wind the yarn up on it, and start a new section.
The solution I hit upon satisfied everyone. I took the boys to the park, where they climbed up the slide and slid down, over and over. I positioned myself at the top of the slide ladder, and then I could spin maybe three yards of yarn before I had to gather it up on the spindle.
Ever since then I've pottered around with yarn. For years, we had sheep, and I made my poor children card their wool while I read aloud to them and spun the fleece into wool (with a spinning wheel, not a spindle), or knit hats. Hat after hat.
What did people use to card wool with before the stainless steel combs I made my poor children labor with? I'd always thought it was teasels. But I tried using them (had to wear gloves), and nope. The prickles on the seedheads break off and it gets ugly quickly. A bit of research reveals that they were used to raise the nap of already woven cloth, not to card raw wool.
Nevertheless. For me, teasels always evoke those long afternoons reading to my poor laboring children.
There is a whole field of them at the Anacortes ferry landing. Teasels, not children.
The solution I hit upon satisfied everyone. I took the boys to the park, where they climbed up the slide and slid down, over and over. I positioned myself at the top of the slide ladder, and then I could spin maybe three yards of yarn before I had to gather it up on the spindle.
Ever since then I've pottered around with yarn. For years, we had sheep, and I made my poor children card their wool while I read aloud to them and spun the fleece into wool (with a spinning wheel, not a spindle), or knit hats. Hat after hat.
What did people use to card wool with before the stainless steel combs I made my poor children labor with? I'd always thought it was teasels. But I tried using them (had to wear gloves), and nope. The prickles on the seedheads break off and it gets ugly quickly. A bit of research reveals that they were used to raise the nap of already woven cloth, not to card raw wool.
Nevertheless. For me, teasels always evoke those long afternoons reading to my poor laboring children.
There is a whole field of them at the Anacortes ferry landing. Teasels, not children.
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