This LearnAlong, held outdoors at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre, was all about picking and carding. Eight Fibreshed members gathered on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, keeping a safe physical distance and using wipes and hand sanitizer as per Covid-19 protocol.

Wendy used the Patrick Green picker to open up the washed local Suffolk sheep fleece.

Meanwhile, Lynda hand-picked fleece to feed the mechanical picker. Our thanks to George for building the picking/skirting table . . . it worked well.

Danielle and Trish did some hand picking, opening locks, getting VM and sawdust out of the fleece, all in preparation for the carding station.

Noelline used the electric carder to produce a nice large batt while Robin shows her batt from the drum carder.

Merrily separates the batt into pieces ready for spinning while Linda May eagerly absorbs each step. We all shared experiences and learned how to use the various tools for picking and carding. Everyone had a fun day and left with eight ounces of washed local fleece to use for a personal FS project.

Photos by Lynda & Merrily