How to use a Blending Board to Card wool

 I've been working on a small project, blending our Shetland wool with some of our farm dog Cash's undercoat to handspin into yarn and then knit into mittens. The blending board seemed the perfect tool to use for the smaller quantity I needed. Every time I sit down at the board, I am reminded just how easy and fun it is to use!

One of my favorite things about blending boards is that they only do a little blending (unless you want them to do more) so are a great tool for making colors and fibers really pop with less chance of creating a "muddy" over blended fiber. The other reason I love blending boards is they are fast! In a matter of 10 minutes you can blend up a good ounce of fiber that is ready to spin. Tools you need:

Tools:
Blending board – hand card
flicker or brush (a stiffer bristle paint brush works too) to push down fiber
fiber – top or roving strips is easiest to start. medium staple length or so to start
fun stuff to add if you would like (silk, silk noils, alpaca, cashmere, and on)
dowel(s) - 2 makes is a little easier (knitting needles could easily work too)

Loading a blending board

• It is easiest to load the base layer with wool so that it pulls up off the board easily when time and other more slick fibers are held in place with the wool.
• Load strips of fiber onto the blending board, using one hand to load and other to guide the fiber into the teeth of the card cloth. 
• I like to load starting on one side of the board, working down the board in strips, then repeating across the board. Basically top to bottom in a strip and then across. You can load the board however feels best to you but starting at the top is always recommended.
• Be sure to leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fibers hanging loose off the bottom of the board. These fibers will make it easier to remove the fibers off the board.
• After you load your first layer, use your brush to tamp the fiber down. 
• Load the next layer then tamp down. Continue in this manner until you hit the knees or bend in the tines on the carding cloth. About 2/3 high on the tines is the maximum. 
• You should be able to fit at least an ounce on most standard size blending boards.

Removing the fibers from the blending board - called doffing
There are several ways you can remove the fibers from you blending board. The most common is rolags, but you can also do batts and even roving. 

Rolags

• Wrap the loose fibers on the bottom of your board around the dowel. If you have 2 dowels you can use the second dowel to help pinch the fibers together between the dowels.
• Now start pulling the loaded dowels towards you at a small angle while lightly drafting the fibers off the board. The angle (roughly 45 degress) helps make it easier to loosen up the fibers and allow for a bit of drafting. 
• Continue in this manner, lightly drafting the fibers off the board while rolling them onto the dowels as needed until you are about 1/3 of the way up the board. 
• Allow the fibers to break off the board. Give the dowels a quick roll to tamp down the end fibers on the rolag. 
• Pull dowels out of middle of rolag. Voila!
• Repeat this moving up the blending board. I generally make about 3 rolags per loaded board.

Batts

• Load the fibers as you would when making a rolag being sure to leave those loose fibers along the bottom of the board. 
• Once loaded you will use the dowels to start as you would with the rolag.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: you will NOT be drafting when removing a batt. 
• Tip I learned from a class with Amelia Garripoli (www.askthebellwether.com), lay a piece of paper, like a cut out section of a paper bag, on top of the board. As you roll the fibers off the board, keep the paper in between the layers as you roll the dowels. This keeps the fibers from getting re-stuck on the blending board.
• Simply roll the dowels up along the board with the fibers being pulled off as you go in one large piece. Voila! Once done unroll it to see your batt. 
• Optional: For an even easier fiber to spin, re-load the board one more time with these fibers and remove as above. You will need to strip the batt down to do this. 
• Spin as desired

Roving
Roving is long thin strips of fiber. You will need a diz or button with a large enough hole that you can pull fiber through.

• Load the fibers as you would when making a rolag being sure to leave those loose fibers along the botton of the board. 
• Now using your diz, start at the bottom right corner of the board. From that corner, grab an amount of those loose fibers that will fit through the hole in the diz. Now start slowly draft the fibers out through the diz working across the bottom of the board to the left. When you get to the end of the bottom row, repeat the process by moving up a bit on the board and going back towards the right. You can leave the fibers all in one long roving. No need to break the roving at any point. 
• Tip, as with the rolags, it is again easiest to have a slight angle as you are drafting the roving off the board.
• Once complete you should have a nice long bit of roving ready to spin.

Need some visual aid? I recently did a video demo of loading a blending board, removing rolags and some handspinning with those rolags. You can watch the demo in the below video. If you don't feel like watching the whole episode, the blending board demo starts at minute 13:37.

Now go grab that blending board that has been collecting dust and have some fun!