Mohair update

As you may remember, I have been working on some mohair. I started with raw fleece, I have washed the fleece, laboriously combed through each lock by hand and now, at last, I have started spinning. You can read more about the project in the post Processing Raw Mohair by Hand. 

The fleece is the goat’s first fleece and it has been growing for about a year. The fibres vary in length. The longest fibres are an incredible 13 inches (33cm) long, without straightening out the kinks. In comparison, I have some commercial mohair top in my stash, the fibres in this are more like 4 or 5 inches (10-12cm) long. Probably the goats used to produce the commercial fibre are shorn at least twice a year.

Here is a lock of the mohair, photographed on a standard A4 ring binder to give some idea of the length:

 

The fibre is lovely and soft and has a pearlescent glow. 

I have never spun such long fibre before.  I have always been told long fibres are easier to spin than short fibre.  However I am discovering extremely long fibre has its own challenges.  I need to do more predrafting than with shorter fibre. If I don’t predraft thoroughly I end up with thicker sections because at the wheel I can’t draft fast enough. When spinning fibres which are say 4 inches long the draft is less than 4 inches, otherwise the fibres will no longer overlap, but with these long locks the draft distance needed is nearly a foot long!  

I am using a single English Wool Comb to form roving from the locks, then I’m spinning from the roving. 

Roving wound into a nest

At first I spun some samples, experimenting with the different ratios on my wheel to get the thickness right. I settled on the middle whorl, which on my Ashford Traditional is a 12.5:1 ratio. I have completed the first skein, the yarn is 16 wraps per inch or 3 ply.

Here is the first skein:

 

Have you ever spun mohair or extremely long fibre of any sort? I’d love to hear how you got on.

Cleaning my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel

Today I have been busy doing one of those jobs I have been putting off: cleaning my spinning wheel.  I have an Ashford Traditional.  I've had it for about three years.  Just lately, I have noticed spinning has become hard work.  When I was at a demonstration recently I used another Ashford Traditional, it felt much smoother than mine.  It is was definitely time to do some serious maintenance on my wheel. 

When I spin, I can feel resistance, my wheel lumbers along like it really can't be bothered. This is my own fault.  I have been using the wrong kind of oil on my wheel.  Thinking oil was oil I didn't buy any special oil for my wheel, I used what I had to hand.  Vegetable oil.  My Dad is a great advocate of vegetable oil. He slaps it on anything which should move and doesn't.  After all, there's a great big bottle sat there in the kitchen waiting for an occupation. If you spin and you ever feel tempted to put vegetable oil on your wheel DON'T DO IT.  

The problem with vegetable oil is it is sticky.  Not only does it gum up the moving parts but fine fibres and general grime stick in the oil, generating even more friction.  I've spun a fair bit of rabbit fur and that is especially good at flying around and working its way into every crevice of both my wheel and my drum carder (but that's another story).  

So today I got out the assembly instructions for my wheel (it was flat pack when I got it) and carefully revised the anatomy of an Ashford Traditional.  I looked at the diagrams; I looked at my wheel.  I read the help pages on the Ashford website.  Then I got the allan key and the screw driver out.

With the aid of a willing but publicity shy family member, I took my wheel apart.  The basic idea, pardon the expression, is to ask the wheel to splay its legs.  That means removing the mother of all, undoing the screws holding the side rails to the single leg and then easing apart the wheel supports. 

My wheel without the mother of all

It took two people, one to hold the wheel supports apart while the other cleaned the crank shaft with a cloth soaked in white spirit.  There was quite a lot of gunk in there.  We also detached the top of the conrod from the crank shaft and cleaned the whole area. Then I took the white spirit to the flyer.  

The crank shaft and the top of the conrod

 My poor wheel is now recovering from the operation. I can't wait to start spinning again and yes, this time I will be using spinning wheel oil.

You can get spinning wheel oil in the UK from P and M Woolcraft.