[speedknitter]

A friend gave me a nice bag of "raw" wool, needs to be cleaned, carded and spun. I'm not a spinner or I would give it a go. Any ideas where I can send it out to get all this done for a reasonable price? I'd love to knit matching sweaters for our daughters.

Thanks in advance!

 

[flapjack]

I'll have a look through the small ads on the back of Spinoff and see what I can find. It might also be worth contacting your local spinners guild and seeing if someone there would process it for you.

FWIW, most mills over here won't handle unwashed fleece, so you need to do that anyhow

 

[speedknitter]

Thanks! How hard is it to wash the wool? I guess I can probably find some instructions on the internet...any advice appreciated.

Maybe I should just learn to spin...

 

[eepster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flapjack FWIW, most mills over here won't handle unwashed fleece, so you need to do that anyhow

Interesting here in the states lots of mills are happy to just wash and card the wool so one can spin it oneself. Funny how that varies.

Here are some mills. This is a totally random selection of mills I have no experience with.
http://www.lambandwool.com/index.htm
http://www.zwool.com/
http://www.stonehedgefibermill.com/

A mill isn't really the best way to have a single fleece processed though (it's better fo a small flock) b/c some wool gets wasted starting up the machinery. If you can find a local fiber guild maybe you can barter with a local spinner to hand process the fiber for you, either with hand carders or a small drum carder. Hand spun has a special quality.

I think this person might do sheep, I have no experience with her though.
http://www.vipfibers.com/

 

[liawbh]

I would totally look for small processors.
Here are a few:
http://www.lambandwool.com/woolproc.htm

http://www.textilelinks.com/com/processing.html

 

[speedknitter]

Thanks! looks like small batches are going to be expensive, I might be able to get more to make it worthwhile.

 

[Sarah]

You might also try www.woolyknobfibermill.com ( thik that's the addy- either way- search for Wooly Knob) they do cleaning and carding and have a connection with a small scall spinning mill- they have no problem to process a single fleece.

 

[speedknitter]

Thank you Sarah, that looks like the best one yet. No - or very small - minimums.