WOVEN RUG/THROW FROM HOME SPUN LEICESTER LONGWOOL FLEECE

July 26, 2021

WOVEN RUG/THROW FROM HOME SPUN LEICESTER LONGWOOL FLEECE

This is a small rug/throw for one of my grandsons. The idea is from his duvet and pillow case based on planets, so the colours represent the planets and the grey the sky with stars in white.

Home spun can easily unravel and come apart so I was mindful of what to do about the fringe. I could have done it without a fringe by weaving each warp up the next warp but I decided to leave tassels.

A photo is worth a thousand words so note I over twisted the three warps then the other three warps then held both ends and allowed them to turn back on themselves. By keeping hold of the ends and slowly turning back I didn't loose the twist. Then it was knotted. Once wet finished I will trim the ends a little.

This is my lovely new loom. I have had it now for some time but needed to prepare sufficient wool for this project and have just had chemo which has meant I couldn't process fleece.

The loom is 120cms wide but for my first project I only wanted 60cms. I had seen people post about using a rod to take the warp to when slaying the loom and so Mike kindly made some supports that can clamp on a chair arm or table. They were excellent.

On an earlier project I borrowed my Granddaughter's loom and realised how much my back ached bending over a table to slay it, so I asked Mike how I could lift the loom stand sufficient so I didn't need to bend. Using blocks of wood under the loom stand worked really well.

I tried to spin thinner for warp so about 10 wraps per inch which equates to a 5 dent heddle. The white was from a white Leicester longwool fleece I had.

I dyed white Leicester Longwool using Fibrecraft acid dyes although got a bit mixed up on quantities and removed the dark colours early from dye bath as I didn't want them getting darker and with what colour was left plus maybe a little extra I dyed the paler ones in the same dye bath. It worked ok.

This is the black Leicester longwool fleece about 10 -15 cms locks. The brown tips I cut off because I didn't want brown colour. I have put the tips on one side so can maybe use for something else. The lighter grey I confess to cutting in half in order to card. Yes I know I should have combed such long locks but after my disaster with a drum carder see an earlier post I haven't yet wanted to buy combs. I like carding with hand carders.

These are the blended rolags and a spun roll of wool. I was so pleased I had decided to buy a black fleece and was able to blend for a suitable colour the idea of dying such a quantity of grey wool was daunting to say the least and I like the speckled effect of how this looks rather than a block of colour.

After scouring and drying this looked a little messy but by pulling the tips out carefully I was then able to work on the locks as above two photos.

Drying in the sun after scouring. To scour I put a large handful in each of two washing up bowls and find that using my hot water to a depth of two inches plus two kettleful of boiling water and about six squirts of fairy liquid is about the required temperature of just under 150 degrees F (60 Centigrade). I leave for no more than 30 minutes, long enough to get rid of lanolin and some dirt but not allowing it to cool and let lanolin reset. I then wash again in just hot tap water and more Fairy in this case twice as it was a rather dirty fleece. I then rinse in cooler water each rinse maybe 3/4 rinses as required and a drop of white vinegar in the last rinse which dissipates some of the sheepy smell.