There are some out there who take the locks of fiber directly and spin them from there. No way, Jose! You'll most likely have knotted/felted areas, bits of debris...not for me personally as this is hard to work with. There are predominantly two ways to get your wool/fiber ready to spin after it's been cleaned, carding and combing. Each method produces a different type of yarn when spun. Carding produces fibers going in every which way that are spun into woolen yarns. These yarns have a lot of air between the fibers and have a soft springy feel to them. These yarns are used for garments and most day to day projects. Combing produces fibers lined up parallel to each other and are spun into worsted yarns. Now I should say there is a yarn weight called worsted also, but they are two separate things. Yarns spun worsted style show off the natural luster of the fibers and are quite strong. This type of yarn is good for hardwearing items and garments. They are well suited for weaving, too. I personally use large English Combs. They are big, sharp, and potentially very dangerous if not used correctly. I make sure my kids are either asleep or secure in the next room when I'm working with them. Now, I do have hand cards and I do use them from time to time. Here is a really good link showing how to use hand cards. If I have short fibers to work with, my hand cards just work better. Now to start, I anchor the combs to a table using C-clamps. Here you can see what the combs look like.
Like I said...big and sharp! Each comb has a large wooden guard that stays on the sharp tines when not in use. Now you take your locks of fiber and lash them onto the anchored comb. This is called the stationary comb. Here is some Lincoln Longwool fiber from Gandalf that I dyed with Kool-Aid and food colors. You can see how I do this here. You want to make sure you're lashing the fiber on from the same direction. I always lash on the butt end of the fleece. This is the end that was closest to the animal when it was shorn off. Fill the comb all the way across and about 1/3 of the way up the comb. Much more than this and it can be difficult to work the fleece well.
Now you turn the stationary comb so the tines are pointed to the right. You take your other comb and VERY CAREFULLY swing it downward starting at the outside edge of the fiber. With each pass you pick up more and more of the fiber and you move closer and closer towards the stationary comb. Once you have transfered the fiber from the stationary comb to your moving comb it's time to transfer the fleece back to the stationary comb.
You VERY CAREFULLY swing the moving comb from right to left starting at the outer edge of the fiber. Again, with each pass you'll be transfering more and more of the fiber to the stationary comb. Repeat these two steps until the fleece is nice and open and clean.
Turn your stationary comb so the tines are pointing up again like they were when you started. Smooth the fiber with your hands to bring the fleece to a point. Now you'll be pulling off the fleece to form top. Top is what you spin. It's a long continuous strip of combed fiber.
From here you can either pull the fleece off to form top completely by eye, or you can use a diz. A diz is a small device made from many different materials...wood, plastic, cardboard, even stone. I've seen a lovely one made out of Mother of Pearl before. The diz has a hole in the center that helps you to pull off the top more evenly. As you pull the fleece through you move the diz closer to the stationary comb. The longest and strongest fibers will be pulled through while the short fibers, noils, dirt and debris will be left behind on the stationary comb. Now, I was taught that you waste nothing when it comes to your fiber. I take the "trash" fiber that's left behind and clean it up by hand to use for our felted soaps! It's a great way to use wool or other fiber that would otherwise probably end up in the trash.
Once you've pulled off all the fiber you'll have a nice long strip of top that's ready to be spun into lovely worsted yarn! I gently roll the top around my hand to make a nice and tidy "ball" of top that easily unrolls as I use it at the spinning wheel.
Now all I need to do is get Matthew to take some pictures of me spinning so I can explain how that part of the process is done! It's hard to get decent photos of yourself while spinning. Believe me, I've tried. I promise to have that sometime soon!
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