P.O. Box 1045 | Mora, NM 87732 | 575-387-5928 |
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Taos Valley Wool Mill
P.O. Box 1045
Mora, NM 87732
575-387-5928
What You Should Know
about our processing and how to prepare your fiber.
- Worsted vs Woolen Spinning (This article appeared in the June 1993 issue of Sheep Magazine)
- Your Fiber Quality
- Several Short Topics: Spinning from your Sliver, Short Exotic Fibers, Our Lot System, Why Card Sliver and Handspinner's Sliver Jobs take Longer, Organic Processing
Scroll down through topics in order listed or use menu links to jump down.
Worsted Vs Woolen Spinning Systems
by Robert Donnelly
The producer of distinctive wools can make an informed choice of spinners if he knows the fundamental spinning system differences. The British book, The Woolen Industry by Brearly and Iredale, says, "The basic fiber used for both woolen and worsted goods is wool, but in worsted yarns the fibers have been laid parallel to each other during manufacture giving the yarn (and the ultimate fabric) a neat, smooth appearance, whereas yarns in which the fibers are crossed in all directions, and are not parallel, and therefore have a rough whiskery appearance are woolen."
These two spinning systems have evolved over many years, each producing distinctively different yarns and fabrics. Early stage processing (raw wool washing, picking and blending and carding) is quite similar. However, the ways in which the wool is removed from the card and processed into yarn are distinctly different.
In the worsted system, the entire output of carded fiber is condensed into a single strand called card sliver. In the woolen system strips of carded fiber taken off by many small belts and rubbed between moving aprons to produce roving. The rovings are simultaneously wound onto spools which are then placed directly on the woolen spinner.
Carded fibers are randomly crossed, so the woolen spinner is designed to draft the roving very little, usually about 1 1/2 times. Because of the limited drafting, a relatively small range of yarn weights is possible with the woolen spinning system. The yarns produced by woolen spinning are inherently lofty and whiskery (fuzzy).
In worsted spinning, 4 to 6 slivers (each the entire output of the card) are laid side by side and passed through a drafting machine (pin drafter) one or more times. The result is a ready to spin sliver in which the fibers have been blended, drafted and laid parallel to each other.
The spinner will further draft the sliver during the spinning stage, and twist is inserted by the rotating spindle. The resulting yarns have a smooth, not a fuzzy surface.
Your Fiber Quality
We are pleased to be able to spin yarns containing only your fiber, without adding wool. Every fiber lot is different, and we can customize our processing for yours. Your fiber must have the following characteristics to make a good-quality, 100%-content yarn: Staple length: Sheep wool must be at least 2in, and up to 9in. For all other fibers, 4in. minimum is recommended. Best results are seen with consistent staple length throughout the lot. Second cuts from shearing will compromise yarn quality.
Lots with mixed fiber lengths can be spun, however the yarns produced will usually be less uniform than those spun with uniform staple lengths.
Double-coated sheep, kemp or guard hair: Some coarser, stiffer fibers will drop out, but expect most to remain in the finished yarn.
Grease or lanolin: None present. Fiber must be thoroughly scoured.
Fiber Diameter (Micron): For now, we use general rules of thumb rather than precise measurements. All degrees of coarseness/fineness in sheep wool works great at our mill. Camelids and mohair: only the finest fibers are difficult to process unless the staple length is consistent and long and the fiber exhibits some crimp or cohesion. We'll work with you and your fiber to determine the best approach.
Crimp: For sheep wool, all breeds have adequate crimp. For other fibers, lack of crimp may not be a problem unless the fiber is also very stiff (mohair especially) or very fine (camelids), or too short.
Contamination: Vegetation, dirt or dander will compromise the yarn quality, and may cause nepping (bumps). At present, we don't have equipment designed to remove these contaminants.
Tip damage or breakage: While this is extremely difficult to detect before processing, damaged fibers will break while being carded and seriously compromise yarn quality.
These are guidelines for 100% content yarns. We are willing and able to accommodate many variations and blends of fiber, and we like a challenge.
Short Topics
Spinning from your sliver:
If you purchase wool, mohair, silk or other fiber in roving or sliver
form, we can spin from it and/or blend it with your other fiber.
When we use your rovings or sliver, we can't card it to our specifications,
so there may additional charges in processing. The following may
be required: extra pin-drafting passes to create proper, even weights
additional time pin-drafting to compensate for old or dry fiber,
which has less cohesion·
Cashmere, camel, buffalo, angora rabbit
and other short-staple fibers:
Although these short-staple length fibers are not suitable for our
spinning equipment on their own, we are able to use them in blends
with wool. As a guideline, we can generally include up to 25% of these
short-haired fibers. Please give us a call to discuss the likely results
of your custom blend. These blends may be subject to an additional
carding/blending charge of $3.50/lb.·
Why our "Lot" system is so strict:
In order
to spin the high-quality lustrous and fine yarns we specialize
in, we pin-draft your fiber in its sliver form before spinning.
This aligns the fibers and drafts the sliver into a lighter, even
mass. We must pin-draft each lot separately. There is no way to
sequence your lots without resetting the machine in between lots.
(This is because the sliver that comes off our carding machine
doesn't come off in multiple rovings. It comes off in one continuous
strand, that must be doubled or tripled in on itself to pin draft.)
When we get to spinning, the differences in fibers between lots
-- even different colors from the same flock -- mean that the fiber
needs to be weighed and measured, and spin settings changed, even
to make the same size yarn. Each lot is really a separate spin.
Why Card Sliver and Hand Spinner's Sliver
jobs take longer to process:
This is a byproduct of our success as a spinning mill. In order to "feed" our
spinning frame, we must card and pin draft spin jobs more rapidly,
and the time available at our carding process for non-spin jobs has
decreased. We are still committed to providing high-quality custom
carding for hand spinners, and we'll try our best to turn these jobs
around in a reasonable time. Check with us to see what the current
turnaround time is when you are ready to send fiber.
Organic processing:
We are currently evaluating whether obtaining a Certified Organic
processing designation is of value to our customers. Please let us
know if this is something you seek!