How to make roving from "raw wool"

[mamajessica]

I have 2 big bags of wool from my mom's sheep that needs something done with. Do I need to take it somewhere to have it made into roving, or can I just wash it and start to work making things? HELP!

[kimmac]

jessica,
Sometimes the wool fibers are already aligned and ready for spinning but this doesn't happen so often. Otherwise you can hand card it. Hand cards are imo a little expensive..about 50 dollars.
There are also places that process the fleece for you. Can you ask for a referal from a weaving/spinning store in your area?
hth
PS I've been using 2 dog brush combs in the shape of hand cards. (You know the flat square/rectangular brushes with metal bristles. They look alot like hand cards but the bristles are shorter so harder to use.)These work okay but not as good as hand cards. It's a little bit frustrating but I'm getting an interesting effect. But for a whole fleece I wouldn't use them.

[swtladyfare]

LOL The best place anyone can go to is their local medieval reenactment group! Someone in the SCA locally can tell you exactly who has a pair of hand carders they'll loan out and who'll love to sit and spin with you If your in florida there's the trimaris textiles group. I personally love working wool from start to finish. Did you plan on harvesting the lanolin when you wash?

[mamajessica]

:
I don't know if I was planning on harvesting the lanolin, I really was assuming that it would naturally remain in the wool???? I will mostly use it to felt with, for soakers, toys, slippers, bags. So really I would just want the lanolin in it for the diapering needs.
Thanks for the tip on where to find someone. Plus it would be AWESOME to actually learn how to card and spin!

[swtladyfare]

Some people like to spin in the grease, but that is a stinky, nasty job. Even if your making diapering items, take the lanolin out then put it back in, your basicly 'cleaning' the lanolin by seperating it from vegitable and *cough* other kinds of matter. Harvesting it is a bit of a job (I had a post about somewheres) but then you don't have to go buy lanolin! you can of course clean your wool without keeping the lanolin. PS most SCAers won't know crap about Lanolin

[Truvie]

Can someone point me toward a good reference for how to clean the wool? I realize now that I should have at least brushed the sheep before I sheared them, but it's too late now. Looking at all the grass/twigs/etc in the wool is just overwhelming, especially since I've never done anything with the wool before (always gave it away). Anyway, I'd love to ultimately do some felting projects with my kids!