Processed Fleece
I was excited and a little nervous as I opened the box.
Our fleeces that we sent off to
Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill in Colorado came back.
Last year, I processed all our sheep and alpaca fleeces myself.
This year, I sent off half of them to the mill.
They washed, carded and drafted the fiber into roving ready to spin.
I couldn't be happier with them!
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| Jacob Sheep Wool in shades of gray |
Here are a few of my favorites:
McCarthy's made a medium/dark gray. It has wonderful loft!
This is McCarthy and her new ram lamb born only a few days ago.
My favorite Jacob roving is Daffodil's.
Her fleece is super soft and blended into a beautiful light gray because she doesn't have as many spots as some Jacobs. And yes, that is a dining room chair the roving is sitting in. It's a LOT of fleece!
She's one of my favorite sheep too and the very first animal to be born on our farm.
The alpaca roving also turned out great.
Garfunkel's is a lovely fawn color.
I think there might be enough from him to make a blanket!
He is super soft but not very cuddly. He prefers to spit.
I have lots of projects that I have been saving for this year's fleece. Better get spinning...
Proverb 31:13
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
I think your roving looks DELICIOUS, and if I had more time and less stash, I'd ask if any of it will be for sale! Is your one son still spinning?
ReplyDeleteOh, and I REALLY like the idea of each sheep's fleece blended into separate roving like that. You get a lovely range of colors unique to that sheep's mix of light and dark fibers, and I also think it would fun to be able to spin up each sheep individually if you choose.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought it might be nice for it to all be seperate from each sheep. We have mixed a few together to send off for white roving though. Jared is still spinning but mostly needle felting. He still likes making things with fiber. Let me know if you want some Jacob. There is no way I can spin all this!
DeleteGet thee behind me . . . or send me an email!
DeleteThey are beautiful--and I like that you kept them separate from each other. Have fun spinning! (Isn't it wonderful to see hard work pay off like this?"
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could have the fleece processed like that. How very cool... the end result looks fabulous. Well, maybe not the 'end' result, as that will be when you create whatever you plan after spinning it all!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like great fun!
What an inspiring project. I bought some wool like that in Tessin, Switzerland a few years back and made lovely shawls. You can feel the lanolin spreading softly into your skin as you knit. Love that.
ReplyDeleteLOVE!!! This city girl is a little jelly :)
ReplyDeleteThat wool is sublime. Love the shots of the animals too. Neat to see where they finished wool started.~~Dee
ReplyDeleteYour wool looks amazing, you probably have tons of projects swirling in your head. Would love to see pictures of whatever you make.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful wool..such talent, I have no idea, how to do any of it?
ReplyDeleteAre Alpaca hard to raise my hubby has been want one for over a year?
Alpaca are pretty easy keepers but they are not cuddly creatures. The hum happily in the pasture if they have grass to eat, shade to hang out in and water to play in when it's hot outside. It is important for them to be able to get wet to cool down. Ours love the sprinklers. You do have to have more than one though. They really need each other even more than other herd animals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great advice...
Delete