Hello All-- Long-time lurker; first-time poster. These are *really* basic questions.
Some years ago I thought it would be a great challenge for my novice-level spinning skills to get a merino fleece and spin enough very fine yarn to knit a Shetland-style lace shawl. (My spinning skills are still "novice-level".) Last year a friend in OZ gifted me with a merino fleece: it had won a 1st prize in a competition. (I'm sorry, I don't remember which.) It's a light-brown colour (and the colour is uneven throughout the fleece), with beautiful golden-blond tips. I've not seen any VM. Importing fleece from OZ into Canada seems to be a very complicated thing, so it was routed to me via a handspinner in the USA, who told me that he had washed it "in boiling water in the machine." (No idea if any soaps or detergents were used.) I've received it: it's in 3 pieces, and I have no idea what was where on the animal. I've pulled a few locks and flicked them open with one of my handcards and they spin up very nicely. But to my inexperienced hand, the locks feel....well, "dry". My plan is to either spin locks separately, in the style of Margaret Stove (using her method as best I can sort it out from her book), or to comb with a set of 2-pitch combs made by Alvin Raimer. The finished yarn will be a fine 2 ply, used for lace knitting. (Right now, I'm leaning to combing.) So here are my questions. (These are what I've come up with so far; there may be more later.) If I use Stove's spinning approach, the tips will come off. If I comb, do I need to take them off? (I've heard yes and no. The golden colour would be welcome in the yarn.) I know from reading Teal's book on combing that to facilitate that process, I'll be adding some oil. But if I use Stove approach, I won't . If the locks are dry, is there anything I can do to replace some lost lanolin...or do I even need to worry about that? Anything else I should be thinking about? Suggestions? Cautions? I apologize for the length of the note: don't have any idea what information is important to provide. Please ask if there's anything else you need to know. I'm on digest, so it may take a bit for me to get back to you. Thank you. Ted http://wabisabi.typepad.com/the_princess_diaries/ To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
