Hairy Icelandic

[koffipot]

I bought some Icelandic tops from WoW a couple of years ago, It was awful, such a lot of 'tog'.

Having put it aside, I decided to revisit it and was still disenchanted. Nothing ventured, nothing gained; I thought I'd have a go at de-hairing it on the hand carders. An hour later and I have a pile of 'wig material' and a pile of beautifully soft 'thel'.

The photo shows the hairy 'tog' on the left and the 'thel' on the right. The middle pile will be similarly treated tomorrow.

De-hairing Icelandic fibre by Judith Robinson, on Flickr

[luvswool and dyestuff]

The first wet felting workshop I attended at the Midwest Felting Symposium some years ago involved Icelandic wool, carried over several ponds by the Icelandic instructor. It was awful stuff, and I could not figure out why I had such difficulty felting--and I was not the only one. I did not know that we were probably using the “tog” not the “thel.”

I give you credit for persisting with the Icelandic fiber, Judith! Do let us know how it stands up to wet-felting.

[koffipot]

I'm sure it would felt well but I'm going to spin it. Having finished that lot, I find I have a similar amounts of darker grey and brown!

Ah well, might as well get it done before I clean up the mess!!

[MTRuth]

Great job Judith. The thel is actually wonderful to felt with. But it is painful to remove all the tog. Looking forward to seeing the yarn once spun. The natural colors are beautiful.

[elizabeth]

I've never hand-carded raw-ish wool How does that separate the outer hairs from the soft undercoat?

[koffipot]

It was combed top Elizabeth, but included both the soft undercoat and the outer coat which is hairy - to keep the sheep dry.

I didn't card it in the traditional way and I'm afraid I find it impossible to describe my unconventional method.

Having also done the darker shades, I now have 2 large bags of nice rolags and don't know what to do with hairy stuff. Any wig makers out there?

[Shepherdess]

You can buy it dehaired. I have a small bag of tog I bought special to use as the coat for some needle felted Scotties I was commissioned to make. Usually you use combs to separate the tog and thel.

[zed]

I love it. I got some ace wiry Icelandic tog years ago from a Scottish supplier and have never seen it since so I use what's left carefully.

Talking of Icelandic, is anyone going to see Rams?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVmUVAdi5Y

[koffipot]

Would like to, but nor on the coming shortly list at our local cinema.

[zed]

That's a shame

[Shepherdess]

Looks interesting but I doubt it will show up here either. maybe it will end up on Netflix

[elizabeth]

It does sound intriguing. I'll have to see if it's showing here at a time I can sneak out to watch. I doubt my DH would care for it.

[zed]

I don't know if it's just here, but I've noticed a few films lately saying they're available for viewing on the release dat, sorry I can't remember the term they use, but it seems if you belong to certain sites you can pay to watch online instead of at the cinema.

A lot of the reviews I've seen talk about it being a great dead pan or wry comedy, and it does have a lot of funny, even laugh out loud moments, but I think this quote sums it up:

“At first it charmed me and then it snuck up and punched me in the gut emotionally. That doesn’t happen a lot. It really caught me off guard.”

[viltmaaraan]

Where stands WoW for, when I google it, I see World of Warcraft, but I think you mean something else , but what ? Maybe stupid...

[Pandagirl]

World of Wool in the UK.