Saturday, October 25, 2014

Washing fleeces...

 A few days ago, I washed Amarillo's wool from this past spring. I used nearly all that was in the bag. Just a little tiny bit was no good. I was really pleased with how well it turned out. It's very white and fluffy and soft. I really don't know all the terminology that goes along with wool and fleeces and such. I watched some good you tube videos on how to wash fleeces and just went from there.

This is Amarillo's fleece. It just kept coming out of the bag. There was a lot of it. And not too awfully dirty either. Not much work in this one.








And it's really pretty. All of this I am thinking can be spun on the wheel for yarn. When I learn to spin. In 3 weeks. I am so excited to be going to the John Campbell Folk School in N. Carolina to learn to spin. And they will also teach up to the spinning as well.  So when I come back home, I just might know what all this means.




And today, I decided to get Adalaide's bag of wool out and start washing it. Man, was it a mess! Full of VM and nastiness. Took a while to just get it all untangled and looked over. And she has some really nice wool right now. I might have to look into getting a coat for her and Amarillo. They are both full Finn. And this was their 1st time being sheared.

Just look how nasty this is. A whole lot of it was so matted together I don't think I'll be able to use it.



This is really pretty here. So nice and fluffy. And some pretty good crimp, I hope.


This is the really crimpy part of her fleece. There was a lot of this. I tried to keep most of it together.




                                   Here it is in the wash water. And it's not pink. Just the lighting.



And all washed up on the drying rack. When it's all clean and white like this, I see all the crap I missed. But I'll get it all clean as I pull it apart.





I still have a little more of Adalaide's to wash tomorrow. I just got tired of doing it and it was getting dark over at the studio.

The 1st weekend in Nov. is a fiber show in Murfreesboro, Tn. I am going with my niece on Sat. I have never been to one before and am very excited. And a little nervous. I'm afraid I'm going to want a little of everything there. I do want to try some different fiber from different breeds. I would like to get a few different breeds for my farm later.So I hope there will be sheep there to see. If anyone is up this way next weekend, come by the fiber show.  I have to clean out my Trooper so I will have room for wool!

I hope you all have a great weekend. It's beautiful here.

2 comments:

Betty Ann said...

So happy for you that you can get away to North Carolina for a spinning class!!! You deserve it!

Kris said...

I am counting down the days now.