I have Teal's book, and it seemed worthwhile to me to try his methods as
specified before saying they're no good. He did lots of research into
traditional methods of combing, going back to the Middle Ages, and my
rule of thumb is methods of work that were done when people HAD to do
them to survive are likely to be, overall, more efficient than anything
we can come up with (other than machines), so I'm glad he was able to do
that research and come up with modern, accessible equivalent methods.
He specifies olive oil, not any other sort of oil, after extensive
testing of various animal and vegetable fats, saying that it was at the
top of the list of desirable qualities, bottom of the list of
undesirables. He recommends preparing just enough wool to spin in a day
or two, a week at most. Olive oil keeps at room temperature for months,
so I'm not concerned about it going rancid, thickening, or otherwise
causing problems when used on wool that will be spun within a week. In
my experiment, I combed the wool and spun it immediately.
Water he specifies to control static. I was doubtful that wool with oil
on it would have any static, but went ahead and tried it. I hardly knew
the water was there, with the impact the oil made, never having oiled
wool before.
The wool he worked with was a variety of types, and from the pictures
looks like good quality. He certainly writes as one with much
experience spinning wool and being knowledgeable about it. So I don't
think the amount of oil has much to do with it being needed for
poor-quality fiber.
He doesn't say his method needs to be used on any one particular type of
wool, but on all wools being combed.
I guess from the responses no one has much familiarity with his methods,
so I'll just keep on trying until I figure out how to make it work or
give up.
Holly
who just heard that Shetland ring shawl yarns measured around 80 or more
wpi as a two-ply!
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