Posted by robin on Wednesday, 8 June 2005, at 8:30 a.m.:
In Reply to: Dirty Wool posted by Jan on Tuesday, 7 June 2005, at 10:48 a.m.:
Dear Jan, I have notices in spinners an almost compulsive need to salvage every little teensy molecule of wool, I have seen people save the noils and second cuts that they pluck out of their fiber as they are spinning. To include in their next felting project? That's all I can figure. Anyway, I do understand the impulse to utilize every jot of fiber that comes your way no matter what (in our household we say "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without) but there is a point past which..... Dealing with a high volume of VM is a P in the A and unless your Zen teacher has assigned this as a task to teach you the meaninglessness of life, it is not worth it. Why turn a wonderfully relaxing and rewarding craft into an excercise in futility? As you progress in your spinning you will naturally find yourself seeking out higher and higher quality fiber to work with, just as you will find yourself wondering about the better quality spinning wheels that you run across, and you will not think of wasting your time or talent on inferior wool like what lays before you now. This wool doesn't need to "go to waste". Toss it on your compost pile if you have one, drape it in the bushes for the birds to cushion their nests with, leave it in clumps on the ground for the rodents to haul off for bedding. If it were just a case of dirt, that is a simple matter of cleaning, but VM in what already sounds like some pretty iffy wool? Pitch it and consider it a lesson learned. At least you didn't fork out cash for it, now that would have really been wasteful!! I wish you all the best on your unfolding spinning path, robin siegel