Fabric Follies Two

I finally made it to the public library in search of some books on spinning… I think it is a sign that spinning is not and has not been big in this area since the only two I found were printed in the ’70s.  And not a soul had ever heard of naalbinding. 

Anyway, I found these two books… “The Joy of Spinning”  by Marilyn Kluger and “Handspinning..Art & Technique”by Allen Fannin.  Both books refer to “oiling the scoured fleece” to replace some of the oil and lanolin taken out during the scouring process.  They both suggest that by adding oil back into the fleece, it will card and spin much better and have a finer hand and softer feel…  It suggests that after the spinning process is complete, the yarn be washed with hot soapy water to remove the added oil.

I put the question up on one of the Yahoo groups that I am in, but so far no one has heard of this step in the process.  It makes me wonder how, during the passage of time, processes change almost without notice.