Micron Count and Felting and Dreads

[VixenSingsBlack]

OK, so I've been trying to make sure I'm getting the "right" kind of wool roving for making dreads. Now, I hear from a few websites that 64+ microns is really necessary for easy felting, but I hear from many other websites that 22microns is GREAT for felting. All I know is, I want nice, tight, spiky wool roving dreads I don't have to felt 18 times that are 7inches long (so the whole DE is 14).

What micron count do ya'll suggest?

AND do you split the roving in half lengthwise before felting? (assumer you're not using pencil roving)
Does anyone have pics of a roving dread made with the whole thickness, and one with half thickness?
Does splitting it lengthwise make a difference during the felting process?

Okey dokey, thanks guys and girls

[Elokin]

Ok, it seems to me that people are getting you confused with two different measurements. The micron count is the diameter of the fibers. The smaller that #, the finer the wool. Your run of the mill merino is about 21-22 microns. I don't think that there are any breeds of sheep that produce wool with a micron anywhere near 64. That would be insanely coarse.

The other # would be the Bradford (or English) Spinning Count System. It has to do with the # of 560 yard skeins you could spin from 1lb of clean fleece. The higher the #, the finer the wool (you can spin thinner yarn with finer wool, so you get more yards per pound). Your average merino is a 64 count on the Bradford system.

I'm not an expert felter by any means (i'm a spinner), but I have felted the crap out of plenty of wool while learning how to dye. In my experiance, a superfine merino (18.5 micron, or 100s on the Bradford system) will felt if you say boo to it. The felt will be very flexible though, so it's probably not what you are looking for. A wool with a longer staple length and higher micron count will produce a stiffer felt, but in my experiance is more of a pain in the rear to felt.
I have heard the Cormo makes a very soft but strong felt. I've also heard good things about Finn and Norwegian.

Another thing you might want to try is using a carded preparation of wool rather than combed. A carded preparation (such as a true roving or a batt) is where the fibers aren't totally parallel to each other. I know that a lot of felters seem to prefer this sort of prep.

I always split my roving before felting. Several times to be honest. Splitting it doesn't make any difference to how the wool felts, it just helps you control the thickness of your final product. (us spinners split the wool before spinning for the same reason).

I'm a major slacker when it comes to felting, but I like really tight felted dreads too. You can felt wool by accident just by changing the water temp too quickly, so this is what I do as a short cut:
Felt the dreads once by rolling them
Get a pot of hot water and one of cold (the bigger the difference in temp, the better)
Throw a little bit of vinegar into the water to shock the ph a bit
Dunk the wool in the hot, then the cold, then the hot, then the cold.
Roll again

I usually have to do this a couple of times, but I end up with tighter dreads with less time spent rolling wool on a towel.

I would think that Jungle Dread would be the felt expert. Maybe she has some better information about wool breeds you should play around with.

Hope this helps a little!

[VixenSingsBlack]

Oh my goodness that was the world's BEST answer ever! Thanks so much for the clarity. Little light bulbs were popping up over my head. I will take the knowledge you have given and buy wool in a smarter manner; I will start with the wool I can say "boo" at to felt.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Jane Doe]

Thanks for the word up Elokin, but it sounds like you know your stuff

The only warning I'd give at making dreads with with wool that will felt instantly, is to be extra careful not to get creases in your dreads.
You can accidentally get creases in dreads made from any wool, but when it's slower to felt it's easier to correct the crease.

AND do you split the roving in half lengthwise before felting? (assumer you're not using pencil roving)
Does anyone have pics of a roving dread made with the whole thickness, and one with half thickness?
Does splitting it lengthwise make a difference during the felting process?

The effect can differ depending on your felting style.
I'm pretty sure http://fragglelox.com/ uses the full width and hers are huge
While I've heard that anaplastic also uses the full thickness, and her resulting dreads are half that thick.
I'd try it a few different thicknesses and see how yours turn out.
The only difference is that splitting makes it felt faster (cause there's less to felt!)

[doclocks]

Dang! There is just sooo much to learn about wool!!!

[Jane Doe]

lol - you don't really need to know all this stuff to made dreadlocks.

Elokin and I just have other interests with wool where you do need to know this stuff (spinning + felting)

[VixenSingsBlack]

Jane Doe and Elokin: I am interested in doing other things with wool, specifically maybe some Xmas and holiday gifts. Trying to break into this whole wool thing is so hard (esp. in the deep south of USA) and it's very hard to find people who are my "peers" to talk to. If I have questions about other wool interests, may I PM you?

[Jane Doe]

Sure thing
It is hard to find information to learn about woolly stuff.
I remember it took me ages when I first wanted to learn.

[Elokin]

Sure, PM me any time. You also might want to check out Ravelry.com for all kinds of wooly goodness. You have to have an account to dig through the forums, but the wait list isn't very long now (less than a week, I think). The site is more geared towards knitting and crocheting, but there's also tons of spinners and felters on there. It's really an amazing resource for the fiber obsessed.

[MrsEss]

I wanna make roving dreads - i've found this on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/100g-DYED-CORRIED ... 286.c0.m14 is that gonna be any good??

I'm gonna get a black too - i've found that at 24 micron.

Are they easy enough to make?? I'm gonna use the tutorials on here. they're gonna be for my work xmas ball

sorry for the hi-jack of the post, but didn't want to add a new thread

[cyberwench]

The dreads in my icon were made by splitting the roving once, but they were quite loosely felted hence they were so puffy (aagh, look at the huge crack on the one in front!).

Bigger pic:



So when I made my second set I split the roving into 3 to make it thinner (again, quite loosely felted):



I'd say split it in half to begin with (unless you want really thick dreads) and see how those come out.

(I have since re-felted the purple set and they shrunk down to about the same size of the red set, but they went mega stiff, I like my roving soft & fluffy!)