Dreaming of a drum carder
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005I know this doesn’t make sense, but June’s entry yesterday about measuring yardage suddenly got me crazy about buying a drum carder. Non sequitur, I know. This summer before my birthday, all I could think about was getting a drum carder — but then when it actually came down to ordering it, I figured I had already bought too much stuff (hand combs, hand cards, too much fibre, etc.) so it never happened. But now we are closing in on Fall… and that means… Christmas is coming!
Ok, so it’s a bit of a long shot, but I can daydream about it. Here’s what I’m looking at:
It’s the Fricke/Strauch Petite Carder which is a 6 1/2″ wide carder with a brush attachment. This carder is $538 CDN from Shuttleworks (where I got the hand carders and combs from). The other carder is the Louet Junior Roving Carder which is 4″ wide and costs $415 CDN. Sure, in my dreams I’d get the Strauch Finest but that’s nearly $900 CDN, so um, no.
Anybody have either of these carders? What do you think? What do you like or dislike about it? Suggestions are very welcome.
I’d like to be able to blend my own fibres or dyed rovings. Like blending some alpaca and angora or silk and merino. Or, blending dyed fibres to make heathered yarns. That kind of stuff. Or, just carding faster than by hand! I’m leaning towards the Strauch Petite because it’s wider and seems better made but the Louet looks better and finished… hmm, off to day dream now.
