Doing Better

Because I would have had to put the carder mess away before doing anything else, I decided to give it one more try.  I googled left, I googled right, I googled upside down and finally came across a couple of things that I hoped would help.  

Like most people, I usually put the locks of fleece into the carder from cut end to tip.  I came across a post from 2009 from the Yarn Harlot about something Judith Mackenzie said in a class, a bit of a throw away comment, not anything that would have made a bullet pointed list.  

Judith said to card from the side of the lock like commercial carders do. I had seen someone do this on a video, but they were using commercially prepped top so I discounted the video.  After reading the Yarn Harlots post, I wondered if that would make a difference. 

I found another blog from a person who had something similar happening, and she talked about adjusting things on her generic carder.  This helped enormously.  Every other thing I found was from carding machine makers and resellers and seemed more about setting up the carder properly, rather than adjustments to resolve  the glompy mess I was getting.  

I approached the carder with pliers and wrench and a piece of paper and mucked about here and there and wouldn't you know it, it made a difference. 

It isn't perfect.  I have had to start by carding only a few locks at a time, but I can get a reasonably smooth batt after the first carding, and a really lovely one after the second.  They are much lighter batts than I was able to get previously but that could be the wool itself.  

Anyway, it is making enough of a difference that I may yet become the owner of fleeces ready to spin in this century.