I’ve added to my collection of cool toys this month. From a destash, I picked up a pair of wool combs. I’ve desired them for ages now, but wasn’t ready to spend the cash on them. These just practically fell in my lap. While I received them on Monday, this week has been ridiculously busy and I wasn’t able to even touch them until Tuesday evening. I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I’d put on them. Then I remembered that one of my between ewe and me fiber club offerings was 4 oz of washed shetland wool. That seemed perfect.
I loaded up my combs with gorgeous shetland locks and gave it a try. I was surprised at just how much VM these locks had in them. It wasn’t immediately apparent by looking at them, but combing wool does really make all the VM fall out of the locks.
I combed according to the Benjamin Green Studio youtube video. It worked quite well though I’ll need a lot more practice. And it is my intention to watch a bunch of other wool combing videos since I think just going with one is unwise. Other people may have tips and tricks which are quite valuable. In fact, Susan McFarland’s video seems to get the results I would find ideal.
In the end, I had 2 birds nests of fiber. One which is quite small as my first combing I was too nervous to put many locks on the combs, and the other a pretty normal sized next.
The shetland, which was super light grey with brown tips, turned into a lovely blended beige.
I don’t have time to work on this any more until at least the weekend, but I am eager to practice and make this part of my fleece prep routine.
Nice combs! I’m looking forward to trying to comb my wensleydale. Still in the wash process….
I’ve got some black wensleydale that I need to get photographed and washed too. I figure it will be perfect for the new combs.
Love the warm color the locks turned into. The transformation in terms of curly lock to fluffy combed fiber is great. I suppose one more thing to add o my wish list.
I’d love to see some before and after photos. I have a fleece in my basement I need to process, but I have no idea what I’m doing.
What kind of fleece is it?
Rambouillet (sp?) I think. A gift with no tag so I’m not totally sure. Brown.
That sounds gorgeous. Quite frankly you’d probably be able to use just a flicker brush and then spin from the lock once after it is washed. I had good luck doing that with my rambo, saxon, and with an entire corriedale fleece. It is a great way to process fleece on the cheap as well.
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