Spinning Wool (1 hour)

Try your hand at the art of spinning wool fibers into yarn. Students will card raw wool, roll it into rolags, and using a drop spindle spin the rolag into yarn.

In your classroom, students will learn how wool is sheared from the sheep, where the best wool is found, and how raw wool is processed. Students will examine wool fibers under a microscope and learn of the other fibers used for making cloth products, silk, flax and cotton. Students will then divide into groups of four, to process raw wool. Raw wool will first be teased, the fibers manually pulled apart to separate, untangle and loosen trapped dirt. Then the students will brush the ‘teased’ wool with cards, (flat wire brushes used to align the wool fibers prior to spinning and felting), peel the brushed wool from the card, and roll it into a loose woolen roll called a ‘rolag’ After each student has a completed rolag, they will partner up with another student to spin the rolag into yarn, using a drop spindle, one student spinning the spindle like a top, while the other student pulls the rolag gently apart and allows the fibers to twist together until they have completed a length of wool yarn. The partners will then change jobs and spin the other rolag, and upon completion each student will have their very own handmade wool yarn. A large table in the front of the classroom, and students with their desks arranged in groups of four.