Hand Spinning wool

Shearing the sheep, choosing your fleece, washing, carding, making rolags and spinning.

You can spin straight from carded fleece for a smoother yarn.

once your sheep is sheared

After shearing

Once your sheep is sheared, you can select the best wool from the fleece to wash, card and spin your yarn.

Fleece will probably be dirty and definitely greasy. You can spin straight from the fleece, but it is not very pleasant.

Use the kempy bits to line hanging baskets. Wool is very water retentive. You do still have to water the baskets though!

Wash the fleece

I recommend washing the fleece and letting it almost dry, you can then card it and you may not need to add any lubricant before spinning.

Choosing a fleece

Spinning is time consuming so it is worth starting with a good, easy to work with fleece that will produce a good yarn. I have put together a few suggestions on a new page what to look for when choosing a fleece for hand spinning.

spinning wheel

Spinning wool

The picture, shows my spinning wheel, some fleece in a bag and a waist coat I knitted. In the background there is a shawl in the making.

Shawl making

A large square of cardboard forms the basis of the shawl. It governs the finished size. Wool is stretched acros the cardboard and held in place in slits in the card. Once wool has been added both across and down, the weaving starts.

Beginning at the bottom (or top - your preference), one strand of wool at a time is woven across. The result is a triangular shawl. The ends are gathered into tassels, 10 strands or so at a time and knotted.

First shear your sheep