My Day!

Yesterday was the shortest daylight day of the year, also known as the Winter Solstice, it was my 4th day on antibiotics for an upper respiratory that got the upper hand, but most importantly it was also my Birthday!  I received many well wishes from all over the country, and I received a few really good presents, one of which I will show to you today.



This particular present I happened to request through my usual "little bird", and I was really thrilled to get it.  It is a Strauch  Flicker.  You may be wondering what a Flicker is and why on earth I wanted one?  A Flicker is a tool that I requested so that I could work on a particularly fine Targhee fleece.













I had washed the lanolin from this fleece successfully, but the tips of the fleece still had a lot of stuff in them.  I knew that if I tried to use my combs on this fleece there would be an incredible amount of waste, and I did not want that!

I loosened a lock of wool from the other locks, I put a twist in the lock and carefully starting with the tip end and  with a bouncing stroke I worked on the tip, removing debris and maybe a weak tip or two.

(A very fine fleece can be ruined with a too aggressive treatment)









Here is that same tip after a trip to the Flicker!  I then reversed the lock and flicked the butt end of the lock.  On the butt end I am removing any felted bits and second cuts.












Once both ends  of the lock are done, I check the center of the lock to make sure that all is well and ecco fatto, a beautiful clean lock from a less than perfect beginning.











Before.....











After...




I have a couple of fleeces that need me to use my newest fiber prep tool, this Targhee is only the beginning!



What is not to love!








Until next time, Happy Weaving, and Spinning, and a very Merry Christmas to you all, Tina