Script for

Episode 125:

Four Things to Consider When Shopping for Hand Carders

Do you love spinning rolags? Rolags spun with a long draw are the path to bouncy, fuzzy, lightweight woolen yarns. These days there are gorgeous ones available from folks on Etsy, like the ones from FellviewFibres or LeaWildCreative. But with a little practice you can make them easily yourself. There are ways to make rolags with a blending board or a pair of hand carders, or even a drum carder. But how do you know what to look for when you're considering buying those tools? Today I want to focus on hand cards and talk about the three most important things to consider when shopping for these versatile tools.

Hello, dear Sheepspotter! Welcome to episode 125 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.

It definitely took me a while to get the hang of hand carding. For me, the secret was watching a lot of different people carding and then settling on one method that worked well for me. Everybody cards slightly differently, so don't be afraid to watch other spinners and experiment until you find something comfortable for you. There's no one right way to do it; if you're getting results you love, you're doing it correctly. I'll link in the show notes to a video demo by Beth Smith that shows roughly the way I card, since it was her technique that really clicked for me.

As with any handheld tool, how well the size and shape of the cards works with your particular hands is critical to making fiber preparation as easy and fun as possible, so with hand cards and hand combs, it's really worthwhile to be able to hold them before you buy them. If you have a local spinning guild, they might have some you could try. If not, try to get to a fiber festival with vendors selling different brands so you can get a feel for them.

The first decision you need to make is whether to buy cards with a straight or a curved back. On some cards, the wood that the carding cloth is attached to is flat, and on some it These days most have a curved back but you can still get some with a flat one. I prefer curved ones as they work best with my particular carding style, but your mileage may vary.

The next thing to consider is size and weight. Size varies a lot from manufacturer to manufacturer, and some companies make scaled-down versions (marketed as mini or student cards). If you have small hands, these might be a better fit for you, and I would urge you to go with what's comfortable rather than with what you think will get the prep done faster. Prep always takes more time than you think it will, so just relax and enjoy the process. Weight will vary with the size of the cards and the wood used for the backs. If your hands and wrists are at all delicate, size and weight will be things you want to really think about. Carding can be hard on your hands, and you want tools that are going to make the work as easy on your body as possible.

Next up, consider the shape of the handles. This also varies a lot from manufacturer to manufacturer, and it's crucial that you find the ones that feel best in your hands.

Finally, there's the teeth-per-inch or TPI of the carding cloth, which refers to how many teeth or pins there are in a square inch of carding cloth. This can vary all the way from 46, in the Louets, to 255 on some cards designed for cotton and very fine fibers. The TPI you'll need depends on the kinds of fibers you work with most often; the finer the fiber you'll be working with, the more teeth per inch you want. 76 works well for medium wools; I like 112 TPI for fine wools; and my cotton cards are 208 TPI. I use my 112 TPI cards, the most of the three sets I have.

So, you want to think about shape, size and weight, handle shape, and TPI. If you choose carefully and take care of them, your hand cards should last you for many decades, and can be used to do lots of different things besides making rolags, including blending, spinning directly from the cards, and, as we discussed last week, even producing an aligned prep for worsted spinning.

I hope this episode has been useful if you're thinking about bringing some hand cards into your life. Let me know!

There's a dedicated discussion thread in The Flock where you can comment and discuss this episode with me and other listeners. The link is in the show notes, which you'll find right inside your podcast app. So just open up the description for this episode, click the link, and you'll be taken right to the thread.

If you haven't joined The Flock, Sheepspot's free online community for inquisitive handspinners, you should! You'll get access to all of the freebies I've created for the podcast, as well as several self-guided spinning challenges, our weekly spinning check-ins every Friday, and lots more. Join us at theflock.sheepspot.com.

Darling Sheepspotter, that's it for me this week. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back next week with the first product review I've done in a while, all about the Louet mini-combs. They arrived the other day and I cannot believe how lightweight they are, though I haven't used them yet.

Until then, my friend, spin something! It will absolutely, positively do you good!