Wool gathering

There are a few flocks of sheep near where we live, and sometimes when I go for walks in Spring, I see bits of fleece caught on bushes and fences.

I've developed a yearning to gather up some of this fleece, and spin it into a... well probably a very short scarf, but maybe something bigger. (Actually, its something I've wanted to do for quite some years, but I always thought you needed a spinning wheel: now I know you can just use a drop spindle, and I've also found where to have spinning lessons.)

If I do gather wool from bushes, is there anything I should know? For instance, is there a minimum size of fleece worth gathering? How long can I keep it before spinning it - for a few years, or do I need to gather it more quickly? What about washing it, or dying it? Anything else I ought to know? Anyone else done this?

Reply to
Penny Gaines
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Not a good idea to gather that fleece of the bushes etc. It could have been there a long time and has been subjected to all kinds of weather and maybe pollution from fields being sprayed. It also gets dried out and looses its lanolin..

Look on the Internet for Wingham Wool's at Wentworth. You can buy wool already carded etc. from there. I used to get my wool from there. I have a whole batch of cashmere rovings that wants spinning but never seem to get around to it. Shirley

In message , Penny Gaines writes

Reply to
Shirley Shone

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 22:50:29 +0000, Shirley Shone spewed forth :

Most people who keep sheep don't spray obnoxious stuff on their pastures. Weather might felt the wool, but its easy enough to see that and discard it instead of putting it in one's gathering basket. Rainwater will take away dirt and leave the lanolin behind, but eventually the lanolin will dry out and be more difficult to scour out the wool later.

There's a long history of woolgathering in every culture that keeps sheep.

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Reply to
Wooly

I have to agree with Wooly, I can't see any harm in wool gathering.....LOL, in the real sense of the word. To me it seems a fun project. You may not get the best quality, but that should not be a problem. You can spin your bits of wool on a toilet role. (or is it roll). Your thumb is the axel, your pointing finger the break. Tease your bits of fleece into a lovely cloud and gently pull it into a roving, the thickness of your pinky. Now tape this sliver or roving to your toilet role. Put the role on your right hand thumb and start winding up your sliver or roving on your role, letting it slip off the top, using your pointing finger to the a bit of breaking, or slowing down the rolling of the role. Because you let the roving slip off to top of your toilet role, your are starting to spin, twist is running in to your prepared roving. When you gently pull your roving away from your spinning toilet role, exstending your prepared fibers, the twist will run into more roving. Need more twist, repeat the winding/ let slip off to top of your toilet role and breaking motionswith your pointing finger, and you will create more twist. When you have a bit of yarn spun, do wind it up on your toilet roll and repeat from the beginning

Have fun

Els

Reply to
Els van Dam

I was only saying what I had been told when I learnt to spin. Here in UK crop fields which are sprayed can be and are next to grazing fields. Not all sheep roam the moors or have huge areas of pastures, a flock will be in a little bitty field surrounded by rape, potatoes, grain etc. at least it is in my neck of the woods. I was brought up in a small village that had nine farms and spent a great deal of my childhood visiting the farms. Shirley

In message , Wooly writes

Reply to
Shirley Shone

I once gathered some wool from a fence that sheep ran next to. I kept it in my desk for about five years until one day my mother found out and commandeered soem of it to ease a corn... it kept just fine. If it isn't kept in the heat, I doubt that it will dry out enough to be a problem. The only slight problem I could see would be smelliness, and if you wash ("scour") it in small batches as you collect it, that shouldn't be a problem.

If you spin it as soon as you get a little batch washed, you may find that you get interesting variations as your technique improves. The advice I've read is to keep your early irregular spinning (assuming that you don't turn out to be a "natural" spinner), because it's hard to recreate it later. (Or of course you could use it for felting, if you don't like novelty yarn.)

Dying it can be done at any time in the process. Some people like to dye the roving in batches and then comb it together to make variegated yarn, others like to wait until the yarn is spun before dyeing it. Materials can be as close as your cupboard or on the net; I've read that smelly plants tend to produce dyes. But I wouldn't worry about dyes until you have some washed wool to play with.

=Tamar

Reply to
Richard Eney

Shirley, you make a good point, and I am sure that there is spraying going on all over the world. But just to try a little bit of spinning, with the gathered bits of wool, and after you have gentley washed it, would be kind of a fun project. I am sure if that will lead to serious spinning adictions.....she will move on the greener pastures.....LOL

Shirley, I did not mean to be negative, only to encurage the itchy spinning fingers.....LOL

Merry Christmas

Els

Reply to
Els van Dam

Thanks for all the advice: I really didn't know where to start.

None of the fields where I would be gathering are anywhere near crops, so I should be OK about crop-spraying. Also I would hope to be going out fairly frequently - weekly or more often - so after a while I might recognise older bits of fleece. FWIW, last Spring in the places I'd be going, I saw quite a bit of really fluffy fleece, so I assume that must be quite fresh.

Reply to
Penny Gaines

Merry Christmas to you too. I hope it is great for you and yours.

I agree it could be quite a fun thing and lets hope the fleece is not the ones they use for making carpets, the rough stuff. LOL Shirley

In message , Els van Dam writes

Reply to
Shirley Shone

Well then it is like lemons and making lemon juice, I guess. Rug wool will become a rug....even if it is just a wee tiny one...LOL

Els

Reply to
Els van Dam

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