One of the unique aspects of the wool I provide, in addition to being incredibly soft and bouncy (thanks to our flock of lovely soft shetland sheep) is that I hand process pretty much everything I sell. I think it makes for a nicer experience for the knitter/spinner.
The equipment I use to hand process is starting to show its age, and as I am using the tools of this trade I reflect on the volume of wool that has passed over the guides, cards and hands. I wonder where all that wool is across the world and if it is providing use as a decoration, a source of warmth or some other type of value.
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| Every lock is flicked. My flicker tines get a little misaligned over time. |
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| Clean dirt build up. |
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| That callous on my index finger is from holding locks while they are flicked. I think it could stop a bullet. |
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| This guide has a groove worn into it from the yarn passing over it, it still has some use before I'll need to replace it |
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| But this guide has just about worn right through. I'm going to keep using it until one day it will just break in two. I wonder what it will feel like when it happens |
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| My doffing tool is all crooked |
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| I use my paddle cards to pack the wool onto my drum carder like so |
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| And one day realized that it was getting grooves worn into the back of it from the tines on the drum carder. This observation is what inspired this post. |
