Carders are here

Just recieved a set of curved wool carders via Woolbothy.  Fleece is back in front of the fire.  Just need Louise or Caroline to give me a carding tutorial.  I hear from her podcast: caithnesscraftcollective that she has mastered the art of the carders and that our previous 'teach yourself carding eveinng' was a little off of the mark.  Could be dying wool at the weekend.  Well, next week anyway!! 

First Wash

A good day's weather and once through the list of jobs provided I made a first attempt to wash a shetland fleece from last year.  With a willing 4 year old helper, in two seperate batches we used an old black bin under the outdoor tap.  Rinsing through three times and picking out the larger pieces of detritus I added some washing up liquid from the kitchen and washed through.  With the trampoline not yet away for winter the fleece was laid out to dry.  That would have been the end of the story for today but it was suggested that I bring the drained fleece in and put it in front of the fire to dry.  I managed a flood and fire at the same time.  the fleece only 12 inches from the fire turned a little brown.  So having picked out the burnt bits and then moving the fleece to a safer place I was informed via twitter that I would not have done a good enough cleaning job so would have to wash all of the fleece again and more thoroughly.  So 'First Wash!!'  However, at least when the fleece is washed I have the red and green dye ready for making the christmas decorations