I made some more felt yesterday using the wool from my sheep that I have had problems felting. It seems the wool from my sheep is too coarse, it is called kemp I think. It is like the kind of wool they use in carpets, low quality coarse fibre. Not surprising because Butter and Sugar were bred for meat, although no one will ever be eating them.
The merino wool felts to it so it can be used in the middle for some felting projects. In this photo you can see how fuzzy and coarse it is.
The locks don't felt either. I am not sure what kind of locks they are. I bought them from Etsy ages ago. I love the way the merino wool locks them in but the locks themselves stay true and glossy.
So last night I came to the conclusion that the wool from Butter and Sugar isn't much good for felting. This inspired me to pull out the spinning wheel which was given to me by a neighbour about a year ago. But first I decided to see if their wool would dye. I read that kemp wool doesn't dye very well but I thought I would give it a go.
It worked really well! I used a Wilton food dye. The colour was 'rose' but it turned out more a watermelon. It is really bright and I have pink hands, which I quite like also. I literally boiled the wool, then washed it out in cold water and wrung it and it still did not felt! I have super-wash sheep!!
So while I cooked dinner last night I had Scott set up my spinning wheel for me (he's a mechanic). He remembers his grandmother spinning in Norway so he had a better idea of how to do it than I did. We watched a few You Tube videos and then it was my turn.
I didn't get it right away. It took a few swear words and fumbling but then I was off. My watermelon wool was still wet so I used some navy blue merino wool. I was surprised at how fast it is.
I didn't even try to get it all even and perfect. I am pretty sure it is over spun in places and under-spun in other places but it is yarn and I did it! I think I am supposed to wash it to set it but I don't know how the hell to do that yet. (I'll ask Jenny)
I was so excited I decided to spin some of my watermelon yarn even though it was still wet and it worked too.
I have decided to crochet the two colours together and then wash the result in the washing machine to see how it felts then. I am determined to get that wool to felt :)
Recent Comments