Friday, November 2, 2012

Icky Sticky Batts

Two weeks ago, several of us Weavers cleaned out the annex to get ready for an influx of some new stuff!  While we were in there we found a couple of big black plastic bags labeled "Carded White Fleece".  We opened them up and found 8 smaller bags with what looked like carded batts, but they felt like they were loaded with tacky lanolin!  It was decided that I should bring them home and see if they were clean-up-and-spin-able.


Here is just one of the packages opened up and the batts spread out.  I took one of these pieces and put them in a small mesh laundry bag.  I filled up the sink with hot water and a little dawn.  I laid the bag in the hot water and waited about 15 minutes and then lifted the bag in the middle to let the water drain out, then put it back in for a little longer.

I rinsed it twice, in much the same way, and then laid it out to dry.  The below picture shows the clean batt on the left and the sticky batt on the right.  It made a huge difference!


I have started spinning the batt, and it spins fairly well, with a lot of pre-drafting, it has a little vegetable matter and a lot of Noils!  I had a  pile of them on the floor by my feet, after I had spun up this little bit.  I will spin up a sample skein to take back to the Center to see what the girls think.


I think I will bring these batts to the Center to see if other spinners are interested in them.  Whoever is interested in them should be able to purchase them from the Weavers.   Any takers?

Until next time, Happy Weaving, Tina


2 comments:

LA said...

I read somewhere this week that some quilters are using wool batts for their warmth. We'll have to ask Sharen what she thinks about this.

Bonnie said...

That would be interesting.