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2000

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12/99

Wool Study

Hollow Tree Spinners' Wool Study

The purpose of this wool study is to give us all a hands-on resource for comparing many different types of wool. They will have different textures, different spinning technics, and different uses. The more information we can gather, the better equipped we will be to make the "perfect" choice of fiber for our projects. By making this a joint effort, we will all benefit by more information in a shorter amount of time; it will also give us information that most of us wouldn't take the time or effort to gather!

So, here are the parameters for the Hollow Tree Spinners' Wool Study:

1. Purchase enough fleece of the breed you chose for your spinning plus enough for a packet for each person participating. The packet should include: a wrap card of spun yarn, a sample lock of fleece, and 1 oz. each of raw and washed fleece. Note: We have limited the study for this year to certain breeds of sheep with certain types of fiber. Please use this guide in choosing your breed. If you did not sign up for a breed at the January meeting, contact Toni to see which choices are left.
    
   
2. Prepare an information sheet which will be typed by our secretary for uniformity and will be distributed to everyone for their binder. (Click here to print out a sample sheet.) The information sheet should include the following:
    
   *Your Name.
   *Breed Description (general characteristics of the breed you are researching, brief history, any interesting facts, rarity or abundance of the type of fleece, etc.)
   * Fiber Characteristics (include the micron count, staple length, amount of crimp, color possibilities, etc.; method of preparation (in addition to carding, combing, include how the fiber was cleaned and what soaps, etc. were used).
   * Spinning Technics (did you spin woolen, worsted, short draw, long draw, from the lock, over the fold-what type of spinning gave the best results for this fleece; also include what grist would be best, if that is a factor).
   *Recommended uses (give several uses for this type of fiber-i.e., knitted or woven garments that could be worn close to the skin, use only as rug yarns, etc.)
   *Purchase Information (give as many sources for the breed as possible with as much information about contacting the people as possible. Also, let us know where the sample fleece came from).
   *Resources (give a bibliography so that we can all go to the sources to get more information should we want to).
    
   
3. Present your findings at a guild meeting. Send your information sheet to Becca in advance so that she can type it, and it can be passed out at this time. Also, at this time, you should have your packets ready to pass out.

Any questions about the procedure contact Stefie.

Helpful Links: (if you find others, e-mail me and I'll update this list.)

US Breed Associations
Information on Sheep Breeds from Oklahoma State University
CISter's Sheep Breed Study Notebook