Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

I had tea last weekend with a dear fiber arts friend. She brought a treat for me — a pair of Clemes and Clemes wool cards. These came from a stash being dispersed because the fiber artist had passed away. In the picture, you can see an uncleaned card on the left, and a cleaned card on the right. The cards looked used. It didn't help that the wool in the cards was a brownish color. Were the cards still sound, or were they beginning to rust? I cleaned the cards by: 1. Using a small-gauge knitting needle (like a US 0 or 1) to dig out the wool scraps. 2. Dragging a pet brush through the combs. 3. Carding a little waste wool. The first step is just like it sounds. If you use a small needle, you can slide the stick in between the teeth and pry up the wool scraps. You may be surprised by how much better a card will look after just that step. In the picture above, that was all I had done to the card on the right. When I used the pet brush, I held the combs over the sink. The ...