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Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:55 am
by Synful-Synthetics
miasmahair wrote:
Synful-Synthetics wrote:I am so exited now that I know there is a pretty good supplier close to Canada
There's a big list of fibrecraft shops in Canada at http://www.harmonique.ca/retailers, I haven't looked at all of them, but there seems to be a few that have different sorts of wool and do internet orders as well :)
Thank you so much! I am going to have a good look through now. YAY :D

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:42 pm
by miasmahair
I just thought of another tip for you guys. If you want black roving you're better to buy white wool and dye it black yourself. Apparently if the people who dye the wool stuff up a colour they dye over it with black, so if you buy black roving often it has been dyed twice and this can mean that some of the fibres have broken and it ends up pilling heaps more when you felt it.
Better living everybody!

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:51 am
by purple13
Well I'm half way through making my first set of roving dreads although I'm using Corriedale wool they still look pretty awesome. I also want to make some candy cane dreads.
Any ideas on how I can make those with red and white without the white turning pink? The red is losing a bit of color during felting.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:53 am
by VixenSingsBlack
purple13 wrote:Well I'm half way through making my first set of roving dreads although I'm using Corriedale wool they still look pretty awesome. I also want to make some candy cane dreads.
Any ideas on how I can make those with red and white without the white turning pink? The red is losing a bit of color during felting.
Maybe you could rinse the red wool in cool water prior to felting it? That would rinse out any excess dye probably.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 11:34 am
by toxic trish
Im so glad I stumbled upon this by accident but yay thinks me will be busy over this holiday :) thanks

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:02 pm
by lizzieish
Oh this is everything I have been looking for! I want to make myself some deep red roving for Christmas time!

And even better news I live in York and know where that Viking Loom place is, think I shall go check it out next week on payday!

Thankyou for this thread! SO useful!

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 12:08 pm
by Black-Sunshine
Is it possible to make single ended roving dreads?

sorry if this has been asked before :oops:

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 12:12 pm
by ScarletLady
It is indeed...I think it's mentioned in Saspie-Doo's tute thread. It's easier if you can use a felting needle.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:18 pm
by angelsandfaes
In the US - I've used Mohair & More. Prices are low and shipping is cheap. Ordered my roving on the 17th and got it on the 18th. I live in the same state but still I don't usually get stuff for at least a week. I have also used Blue Goose Glen and they are great. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Edited to add made a second order and they shipped right away. I found my new roving supplier. Please let me know if anyone has ordered from them before and how it went. Also if there are any other US suppliers. I love Blue Goose Glen too.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 7:38 pm
by Sashalo
Ok i have a weird question in which i do believe i have my own answer but i wanted to ask around and be sure before i did anything CRAZYYYY lol.. so i bought a lb of wool in white cause well honestly i couldn't choose a color i love them all.. anyways i just got the wool and it smells like a darn sheep is in the bag too!!! i got the wool off ebay can i just wash the wool with soap and cold water, should i bleach it?! I'm not too big on the idea of smelling like a SHEEP!!!! Please help me i am so excited to start felting/dying the wool and i don't wanna mess it up by test washing it... HELP!!! lol Please & Thank You <3

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:19 pm
by VixenSingsBlack
I'd say try felting some and see how it smells afterwards. Soap and hot water is used, so you're sort of washing the wool as you felt.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:29 pm
by Sashalo
the felting helped a bit and also the dye but i sprayed them with some perfume and they smell lovely now lol ty <3

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:52 pm
by Sashalo
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask.. but i made a few dreads using the palm rolling and wet felting method and they have some cracks.. a few people had mentioned they used a felting needle to get rid of the cracks so i jumped up and ran to the craft store and bought me a felting needle, my problem is that it really doesn't seam to do much.. im wondering if there are sizes of needles and if so what the best size would be to use? ty.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:59 am
by Scribble
What width are thin/medium/thick dreads? The ones I am making (1/3 of the roving) are a little thicker than a pencil, but not quite as thick as a sharpie. I'd like to know if these would count as thin or medium to get an idea of how many I should make.

Thanks :)

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:53 pm
by VixenSingsBlack
Scribble wrote:What width are thin/medium/thick dreads? The ones I am making (1/3 of the roving) are a little thicker than a pencil, but not quite as thick as a sharpie. I'd like to know if these would count as thin or medium to get an idea of how many I should make.

Thanks :)
I'd say they're somewhere between medium and thin, so I'd make 50-60 for a full head. Of course, this also depends on how much of your head you plan to cover as well.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 8:36 am
by AmberLilith
Regarding UK suppliers:

WinghamWool http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/
up-to-date pricing £3.15/100g coloured merino tops (21 micron). Other wools are cheaper. Widest variety of different wools.

World of Wool http://www.worldofwool.co.uk/
£2.70/100g coloured merino tops (23 micron).

Wingham's colour chart s more accurate than WoW's, but i would recommend buying/borrowing their sample colour chart if matching colours is very important!

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:49 pm
by FreakyFiberFox
The last post in this thread was almost 4 yrs ago so I hope it's ok to add to this.

As a spinner and dyer of yarn and roving, I work with a lot of different types of wool roving. There are as many different types of roving as there are breeds of sheep...which is many :i9:
Not to mention all the other animals that provide fiber.

Most roving will felt, however as mentioned above by others, some types take more work to felt. So I like to take a small sample and test felt...let dry and see the results. Not to mention that different fibers will have a different felted look. So it's nice to test a small amount so you don't waste money or roving. Not to mention that some breeds actually produce nice shades of black, brown or through blending some white and black some nice shades of grey. Which is helpful since dyeing anything to a nice depth of black can sometimes be difficult.

Sometimes you're able to buy what they call a fiber sample pack or sometimes a store owner is willing to actually give you a small sample of different types of roving.

I've also seen some wool dreads that have "sparkly" stuff in it...there are different types of sparkly fibers like angelina and firestar. If your local fiber shop has a drum carder ( a machine used to blend various fibers together) you can sometimes call ahead of time and ask if you can use theirs to blend the sparkly stuff into your merino, bfl or whatever.

There are so many different fibers out there...both synthetic and natural I think it's both cool and worth it to see what new and different looks can be achieved. If you see a roving type that interests you, you can check out the sheep or animal breed on wiki and it will give you a Bradford count...and like others have said the lower the count the easier it will felt.

If anyone here is in the Ottawa area, there's a great store called Knit-Knackers in Smith Falls. They deliver to Ottawa for free but you'll have to pick it up at the spa on Gladstone that is owned by the same person.
http://www.knitknackers.com
They are my go to place for spinning fibers. Not to mention they have some organic roving for those interested.
They are super friendly, have lots of great info and I find their prices reasonable.
Having spun their fibers before, I can vouch for the quality.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:03 pm
by AmberLilith
FreakyFiberFox wrote:The last post in this thread was almost 4 yrs ago so I hope it's ok to add to this.

As a spinner and dyer of yarn and roving, I work with a lot of different types of wool roving. There are as many different types of roving as there are breeds of sheep...which is many :i9:
Not to mention all the other animals that provide fiber.

Most roving will felt, however as mentioned above by others, some types take more work to felt. So I like to take a small sample and test felt...let dry and see the results. Not to mention that different fibers will have a different felted look.

If your local fiber shop has a drum carder ( a machine used to blend various fibers together) you can sometimes call ahead of time and ask if you can use theirs to blend the sparkly stuff into your merino, bfl or whatever.

There are so many different fibers out there...both synthetic and natural I think it's both cool and worth it to see what new and different looks can be achieved. If you see a roving type that interests you, you can check out the sheep or animal breed on wiki and it will give you a Bradford count...and like others have said the lower the count the easier it will felt.

Great to have another spinner on here!
(And don't worry, the last post on here was only earlier this year!)
Very good points about trying different types of wool.

And for blending/carding fibres, i believe Wingham Wool Works int he UK has a service where they will blend fibre for you or you can go to their workshop to use their drum carder.
It's loads of fun n well worth trying to make your own unique blends. I'm lucky to have a drum carder at home n love blending different fibres and angelina.

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:51 pm
by MrsEss
I have seen Anna's wool form her spinning adventures & it's amazing! I feel the need to knit with it!

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 6:04 pm
by AmberLilith
DreadstarMonstar wrote:I have seen Anna's wool form her spinning adventures & it's amazing! I feel the need to knit with it!
That can definitely be arranged m'dear!

Re: Wool roving dreads FAQ - wool newbs, read me!

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:27 pm
by MrsEss
AmberLilith wrote:
DreadstarMonstar wrote:I have seen Anna's wool form her spinning adventures & it's amazing! I feel the need to knit with it!
That can definitely be arranged m'dear!

Most definitely :)