The day has a typical ‘spring-summer’ feel; muggy, cloudy, cool enough to wear something on the arms but too hot for jerseys.
Since the shearing day a couple of weeks ago I have preliminary skirted most of the fleeces so anyone inquiring about fleece please contact me, I am happy to send samples to you if you do not – or can not visit us personally. Anyone is welcome to come and view the sheep and their products.
On another note: I have decided to create a sample hank of yarn from each sheep and will keep photos of each stage for any prospective buyers.
The first sheep I decided to try this experiment with was Bob #3, one of the lambs from the foundation ewe called Chocolate; Bob is our look-alike Gute so I was interested in his fleece because of the quality and colour.
What I noticed with this fleece is the different colours and textures; the cream near the body is soft and fluffy, to keep him warm and cool, the grey outer coat is fine and the red are the guard hairs. The wool spun up lovely and fine, with the cream and grey mixing in similar to a worsted effect. For the first spinning I did not use the wool with the guard hair in it. (It is common knowledge that the guard hair can be very strong, but can feel rough to wear. Guard hair spun in though is excellent for weavers.)
When plied and washed it has turned out this lovely soft grey with flecks of cream in it.
The second fleece I am now working on Suzie #3. She is a foundation ewe and this is the start of her example yarn.
This is an interesting process; from sheep to yarn; I hope you enjoy the continuing story.
Brilliant! I’m really interested to see how this turns out as I’m spinning alpaca recently gifted to me. I’ve prepped…
So … Marion had a little lamb It’s fleece was black as soot And everywhere that Marion went It’s sooty…
I see something genuinely special in this site.
oh, thanks, that’s very nice of you to say.
silva kurls 
Hi Jackie, Thanks for your comments and yes I must post the outcomes on spinning and knitting the alpaca. regards…