The Milling Process

Once the report card has been established the next step is to inspect for condition and weigh the fleece in preparation for washing. Soap used is citrus based and biodegradable.

The water is natural spring water with no chlorines or chemicals added. Each wash takes three hours, and handles up to 10 lbs of fleece at a time.

The water temperature is kept at 140 F for maximum effect in further eliminating contaminants from the fleece.

To conserve water, the washing machine operates with the aid of a recycling tank that recycles 3 of the 5 washing cycles.

Picking is done on the picker machine. Its job is to open the fibers. Fleece gets compressed and lightly tangled by the washing process.

The fiber is placed on the intake belt which sends it through separation rollers then blows the fiber into the "picker room".

In the picker room, the fleece is sprayed with a vegetable oil based conditioner to lubricate the fiber. The conditioner is necessary to control elements such as static.

Fibers such as llama, cashmere, and buffalo require the fiber separator in order to remove guard hairs from the fleece.

Alpacas can also develop guard hairs as they age. Guard hairs are fibers that stick out after spinning causing product to be scratchy.

Fibers such as cashmere require multiple passes through this machine which results in higher cost.

If the carder is unable to comb out the knots created by nepping then the fiber may need to be processed differently during spinning.

Fiber that has been carded is either packaged as rovings or batts or taken to the next step of the process.

If the fiber is going to be yarn it is put through the "carder's helper", the drawframe.

The drawframe further aligns the fibers by brushing it and drafting the roving to a smaller circumference.

Legacy Lane Fiber Mill utilizes an eight spindle spinner that produces a single ply yarn.

This is a very specialized step in the mill process.

If concerns arise with breakage or inconsistencies with the fiber, the operator will address the concerns by appropriately adjusting the drafting and twist settings.

The plying machine takes single ply yarns from the spinner and twists them together into a finished yarn. After the yarn is plied it is removed from bobbins and put onto cones.

Once on cones, the yarn is steamed to set the twist and loft the yarn. Wax for weaving can be applied to the yarn as it comes out of the steamer.

Sheets of felt are made from processed fiber that has been carded into batt. This batt is layered onto a felting table and soaked with hot soapy water.

The top-plate on the felting table is closed and agitation begins. When finished, the sheet of felt is laid flat to dry.

Copyright 2009 © Legacy Lane Fiber Mill, New Brunswick, Canada