Then, this past January, I pulled out some of each fleece, and started carding. Well, picking the fleece (flicking with a dog brush, removing more vegetable matter, fluffing) and THEN carding.
I ended up with a stack of batts, which I turned into fauxlags, because I wanted to learn how to spin longdraw.
Then I spent some time with Jacey Bogg's Craftsy Class on drafting techniques. I was spinning up some laceweight, and it greatly improved my technique and speed.
Also had a new spinning wheel, so I figured I'd use this to get used to it as well - direct drive vs drive band, and a few other differences.
Started with the gray wool. It drafted very smoothly, and I thought I had it all figured out.
Moved onto the black wool, where I learned that I didn't have it all figured out. My fiber prep was also not as thorough as it might have been - lots of short bits left in, and it could have used another pass through the drum carder. But I persevered, and ended up with yarn. This fiber turned out to be a bit more fun, because at times it was like drafting chewing gum, and I could easily double draft out the slubs. Lots of lanolin still in this fleece.
Finally, the moorit wool. It had been a real pain to pick before carding, because it was slightly felted at the sheared end.
By now, the spinning wheel and I were getting along very well, and the actual spinning moved right along.
As I mentioned before, there was still a lot of lanolin present, and I really wanted it gone. After much investigation on Ravelry, I ordered a bottle of Unicorn Power Scour, and the yarn got its finishing bath in that, with a hot water rinse/soak afterward.
I am happy with the end result. This is the squishiest yarn I have ever spun.
Learnings: fiber prep, fiber prep, fiber prep.
Next tool: a wool picker, although I'll have to give the fleece another scour before I use it.
Future ideas: I've got some brightly colored silk, and commercially dyed fleece to blend it to make the yarn more interesting.
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