Carding & Spinning
The term ‘carding’ summarises a series of complicated processes that the washed wool undergoes in preparation for spinning. Various formidable looking machines are used to open up the sheep fleeces and distribute the fibres evenly.
Once the wool has been carded, it is spun. Due to the quantities of wool we use, hand-spinning isn’t an option for us. The invention of spinning mules revolutionised spinning in the late 18th century, when it was taken to an industrial scale. Spinning mules are still being used today, but have mostly been superseded by ring spinning frames.
We work with spinning mills in Scotland and the north of England which use both ring spinners and spinning mules. All of them are long-established mills and the quality of their yarns is outstanding. Watch our video to see some of the action behind the scenes at Lightowlers in Yorkshire, working with our own Skye Wool.
