How to Choose the Best Wool for Spinning Yarn
It's essential to choose the right wool fleece to create great hand-spun yarn. If you don't select good wool, you won't have as much fun spinning the product, and you'll end up with an inferior yarn. If you take the time to find the best wool for spinning yarn, you'll be able to create a high-quality finished yarn that will be a pleasure to knit, crochet or weave. As soon as you know what to look for, determining whether a certain wool fleece will make for good spinning takes little time.
Instructions
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Inspect the fleece for weak spots. Hold the end of a lock of wool fiber in your left hand and grasp the tip between your right thumb and forefinger. Give the fiber a sharp tug to see if the lock breaks. If it does, pass on purchasing this wool. Weak spots will compromise the strength of your finished yarn.
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Look for wool with minimal vegetable matter. The fewer bits of hay, grass and burrs you find, the less time you will have to spend picking out unwanted bits as you spin.
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Find skirted wool if you're purchasing an entire fleece. Skirting removes vegetable matter and tags--clumps of matted wool and animal waste.
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Measure the staple length. Wool with fibers shorter than 2 inches are extremely difficult to spin by hand. Stick to wools with a staple of at least 2 1/2 inches. If you're a new spinner, avoid fibers that measure longer than 4 inches--they are slightly more challenging to spin.
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Avoid matted wool fleeces. No matter how gorgeous the color, matted wool is more trouble than it's worth, since it's nearly impossible to salvage without cutting the fibers short.
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Check for discoloration. This is especially important if you're buying a wool fleece for spinning. Ask the seller if you can wash a lock to check for yellowish discoloration, as this could indicate fleece rot or other nasty imperfections that will affect your finished yarn.
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Select wool with the right amount of crimp. Wool with lots of close, little crimps is the best for spinning fluffy, fuzzy yarns, while wool with fewer crimps spread further apart is best for smooth, lustrous yarns.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're looking for the best wool fleece for spinning, don't purchase one from an online auction site. Even if the photos look great, you never know the condition of the fleece you're getting unless you can inspect it in person. If you buy fleeces online, purchase them only from reputable fiber farms that focus on raising animals specifically for hand-spinning fiber.
If you are looking for the best wool roving, focus your search on finding the best staple length and amount of crimp for the kind of yarn you want to spin.
