I attended Ply Away in 2022, and it was a wonderful experience. Two classes that I took fed off of each other and inspired me to follow the dream of hempsey-woolsey. I took a class on linsey-woolsey with Judith MacKenzie, the traditional American textile that combined flax with wool to stretch the wool and create a durable fabric for early European Americans. I also took a class on spinning hemp from Joan Ruane. I listened to each of these teachers talk about bast fibers, and I was inspired to see if hemp could act in a similar way as the linen that we used in class when combined with wool.
The first step of the process for consistent yarn is to weight out the fiber. I weigh out a small amount of fiber, and use the length of that fiber to estimate all of the batts that I will card on the drum carder. I find that having an accurate idea of how much hemp I am blending in the wool gives me more control over the finished yarn. This tutorial is based on blending in hemp that is 20% of the total wool weight, which makes the final blend that is roughly 83% wool and 17% hemp. I am using cheviot wool top. I have found that down breeds when blended with hemp create a yarn that has a cotton-y feel that is surprising and pleasant.
So I use a scale to weigh out 20 grams of wool. I measure out this small amount, because my drum carder cards about 30 grams of fiber comfortably, and I don't like to overload it.
I then weigh out 20% of the weight of the wool for the hemp. This wool is 20 grams, and 20 divided by 5 is 4. So I measure out 4 grams of hemp.
I then split the wool top and the hemp sliver. I split the wool into 4 roughly equal sections, and the hemp into 3 roughly equal sections. I then lay the at the front of my drum carder in the order that I will feed them in to be carded.
I then open up the wool top and spread it out so that it will be evenly carded.
The next step, I pull apart the hemp fibers, and feed them into the drum carder so that the fibers are perpendicular to the drums. This solves the problem of neps from the hemp, and creates a fiber blend the is more homogenous and easier to spin.
I then repeat this process, feeding in each of the remaining 5 layers, feeding the wool fiber in parallel with the drum carder, and the hemp perpendicular.
Once all the fiber has been loaded onto the drum I pull it off the drum so that I can send it through again. I find that 2 passes is sufficiently blended. A more homogenous batt could be accomplished by sending the batt through the carder even more times.
Once the batt is pulled off the carder I split it into three sections. I find that after the first pass I often have a part of the batt the is much thicker. I split the thicker section off, and then divide it in half vertically.
Once the batt has been split into these three sections I feed each bit back through the carder, keeping the wool fibers parallel to the drum card, the hemp is pretty evenly distributed throughout the wool after this step.
I then pull the batt off the drum carder, and roll it pretty firmly around itself. I spin from the end of this batt, so the draft is from the fold. I find that this keeps the fibers mixed together, and avoids drafting out the wool and having a clump of hemp left at the end.
That's it! Your very own hempsey-woolsey blend. Ready to be spun and used in any number of textiles. I have knit socks from 3-ply hempsey-woolsey, and woven a tote from hempsey-woolsey as well. Both items are surprisingly soft and strong. I hope you enjoy creating with this process!
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