[Bionic]

Is it wrong that the idea of fingerless cut-resistant gloves made me laugh?   
Fingerless Kevlar

Yes, that does seem to be a strange concept 

[Fleecewife]

Is it wrong that the idea of fingerless cut-resistant gloves made me laugh?   
Fingerless Kevlar

    I love it!

[SallyintNorth]

Is it wrong that the idea of fingerless cut-resistant gloves made me laugh?   
Fingerless Kevlar

    I love it!

I knew you would 

[Fleecewife]

I've been trying my new combs and I still have all my fingers and am puncture free 
 
I absolutely love them and am wondering how on earth I managed to spin Heb for the past 18 years without them.
 
First I tried a really curly, crimpy Shetland fleece, from my ancient fawn katmoget ewe.  I don't normally spin her fleece because the tight curls and super crimp make it difficult to card without getting neps.  I put it through the combs a couple of times and dizzed it to get a wonderful clean roving.  When I spun it, it came out really fine, unlike my usual yarn.  However, I think it lends itself more to woollen spinning so I'm wondering the best way to convert the hackle full to rolags.  I will try taking it off the hackle bit and rolling it, unless someone has some better ideas.
 
Then tonight I tried a Heb fleece.  This is a first shear fleece which I have been carding and spinning fairly thickly.  Separating the long and under coats with the combs seems to work pretty much automatically.  I work back and forth with the diz until suddenly I find I can't draw so far back, so I start a new roving with the shorter fibres.  They both look lovely to spin although I haven't tried yet, much smoother and glossier than carded fibre.   Heb is naturally a fibre which is light and bouncy so it will be interesting to see how it responds to worsted spinning.
I think an adult fleece will show a much better defined change from the longer to the shorter fibres.  With the first shear fleece, there are no really hairy longer fibres
 
So, a whole new era of spinning fun is opening before me 

[Bionic]

This is not good. 
I was hoping you would say they are horrible and you can't get on with them to put me off. Now we will all be wanting some combs 

[SallyintNorth]

Very very very glad to hear this   Looking forward to my lovely grey/brown Heb even more now

With the Shetland, would the shorter fibres left in the hackle be cardable? Either by hand-cards or drum carder?  I think this is pretty much how it used to work - the woolcombers would comb the longer fibres, and the 'waste' from combing would go to the woollen spinners.

Dang this pesky cold!     I am improving but still not better, so dare not come and see you - or my folks, come to that - until I feel germ-free.

[Greenerlife]

This is not good. 
I was hoping you would say they are horrible and you can't get on with them to put me off. Now we will all be wanting some combs 

Agreed!   

[SallyintNorth]

This is not good. 
I was hoping you would say they are horrible and you can't get on with them to put me off. Now we will all be wanting some combs 

Agreed!   

I think there's a set of Winghams' English Wool Combs for sale on Ravelry right now.  Apparently Winghams took over the Peter Teal designs when he stopped making them, so these should be identical to mine (which are original Peter Teals, lucky me  )

[Fleecewife]

This is not good. 
I was hoping you would say they are horrible and you can't get on with them to put me off. Now we will all be wanting some combs 

 

[Fleecewife]

Very very very glad to hear this   Looking forward to my lovely grey/brown Heb even more now

With the Shetland, would the shorter fibres left in the hackle be cardable? Either by hand-cards or drum carder?  I think this is pretty much how it used to work - the woolcombers would comb the longer fibres, and the 'waste' from combing would go to the woollen spinners.

Dang this pesky cold!     I am improving but still not better, so dare not come and see you - or my folks, come to that - until I feel germ-free.

I dizzed down as far as I could and all that's left is lumpy bumpy neps and rubbish.  It seems quite a lot of waste but I don't think it's useable.  Maybe in the olden days, when the combs were used for longwool prepping, the waste was long enough to use for woollen spinning (a bit like me separating the long and short fibres of the Heb, where I'll use the shorter ones for woollen)

[Lesley Silvester]

This is not good. 
I was hoping you would say they are horrible and you can't get on with them to put me off. Now we will all be wanting some combs 

Me, too. I want some. I just looked at the ones on Ravelry but I can't justify the expense. Not until I've had a bit more use out of my drum carder anyway.