July 5, 2006
Raw Fleece
I got a note from the nice lady in Tylertown who gave us the free fleece. I started to feel really guilty for not having tackled any of the raw fleece yet, so I spent many hours last night sorting through one trash bag full of fleece and picking out vegetable matter. This was unskirted, so about a third of it was leg, belly or butt wool and the discard pile was as big as the keep pile. I left Omar in the picture as a reference.
This was the first shearing and she thought no one would be using it, so the fleece was allowed to fall into the bedding as it was cut, which explains all the VM. There were surprisingly few second cuts.
I pulled out a lingerie bag full of fleece to wash as a sample. The tips of the wool remained gummy, even after two washings and two rinses. I tried cutting the tips off after washing, but it would be best to do it before washing. The sample will be going into pincushions and not spun, but I hope to be able to spin some of the rest of fleece.
Of course mother nature decided to mock my efforts…and there was a huge sudden thunderstorm and the wool got a rain bath! It is out back soaking right now. I promised my Puggy friend some of the raw wool, so I will be sorting another bag before the weekend.
