Cardin' Party

Took a little blog vacation last week, so here are the pics from our cardin' party at Fiber Camp.

The first day, Roberta showed me her method for carding Cormo.

If the drum carder has a brush attachment, it needs to be moved up and out of the way.
The Cormo, from Riverwinds Farm, was carefully washed to preserve the lock structure, so it just took a little teasing to get them ready to card.
Catch the tips end of the locks on the teeth of the large drum,
and, while slowly turning the drum, draft back to lay down a thin layer of wool.
You want to keep drafting back until there's almost nothing left to hold onto. This prevents the lock from springing back and forming a nep.
It's a slow methodical process, but doesn't need to be finished in one sitting. Also, this is the one and only time they're going to be carded.
When finished, remove the batt from the drum. Later in the weekend, my friend Patty stopped by and told us about a great tool to use for this process.
Take a wooden dowel and tape a long strip of thick plastic to it. The plastic prevents the layers of the rolled up batt from sticking to each other.

Here is our first Cormo batt off the carder. What few irregularities it had, spun right out. I found it a much nicer preparation to spin than my hand combed top.
Later in the weekend, we played with some blending.

Kerry had given me a sample of one of her dyeing experiments. I'm pretty sure it's North County Cheviot. We teased open the locks and carded a thin layer of them.
Then, we added some locks from Patty's sheep, Lucy (aka Dolly) which is a Dorset Rambouillet. Our aim was a sock blend.
For strength and a punch of needed color, we added some magenta silk.
We dubbed the resulting batt, Peach Bud.
As you can see, this isn't a totally blended batt. But, it's the start of a continuing exploration. Fiber Camp was so much fun. Can't wait for next time.