Woolen

The fibers in a woolen yarn are not inline and go in all different directions, this results in a light, airy yarn with lots of bounce. Usually spun from rolags, the product of wool carding, which allows for the use of shorter fibers (under 3 inches). It is spun using the long draw method. The airy nature of a woolen yarn means it is very warm. Woolen yarn is often used as the weft in the weave of a warmer fabric.

Wool Combs 

  Wool Combs are a tool for processing wool from the early iron age. They have handles made of wood and teeth made out of sharp iron nails. The process of using wool combs, sorts out the short wool, creating a lot of waist wool (or can be used for carding) The product of the wool combing process is combed top which is used to make a worsted yarn. 

The pitch of a wool comb is how many rows of teeth it has, a finer set of wool combs would have multiple sets of teeth spaced closer together while a coarse set might only have one row spaced further apart. 

Wool combing is done with a pair of combs. You load one of the combs with wool and then using the other, comb through the fibers transferring them to the empty comb. Once no more fibers are transferring  to the other comb, the wool remaining on the first comb is removed and set aside and the process is repeated until all the fibers are aligned. The fiber is then removed from the combs by pulling it gently, A gauge is often used to create a length of combed top with an even width.  

Grave finds in norway suggest that in the late iron age wool combs were used by women because out of  the 116 graves that contained them where the sex could be determined 102 of them were women and 14 men. By later period it had become a trade done by men. Medieval wool combs were big and heavy and were heated on a fire making them slide through the wool easier. 

I made my wool combs out of hardwood and sharpened nails. They are quite short in comparison to medieval wool combs and more closely resemble smaller more modern wool combs 

Thwaking 

Thwaking is a yarn finishing technique where you take your wet yarn and hit it against something repeatedly. This increase the yarns strength by felting the fibers together.

Turkish Cross Armed Spindle 

It is hard to determine the age of the Turkish cross armed spindle, because they are usually made entirely out of wood and biodegrade over time, however they are thought to be a very old form of Spindle. The turkish spindle consists of 3 parts, the shaft and two arms, often one will nestle inside the other before they are put on the shaft, that create the signature cross whorl. Finished lengths of yarn are wound onto the arms in a over two under one pattern, this forms the cop of the cross armed spindle. Once the spin is done the cop along with the arms can be removed from the shaft, the arms are then pulled out creating a center pull ball. Turkish spindles are often a bottom whorl, giving them stability with a lower center of gravity, and are often used for suspended spinning.