Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Lots of wool.

I still have some fleeces that needed to be washed. This is Annabelle's. The 1st is before washing. The 2nd picture is after. I'm not the best fleece washer. I just use Borax and blue Dawn. I wash a few times, then rinse. I see a huge difference, but the tips are still a bit dirty.








I plan to dye some of the whiter wool sometime soon. I want to use natural dyes. I also have some Jaquard dyes too. So I will be experimenting. I would love to grow a dye garden too. I want lots of flowers anyway, for the honey bees.

This is some of Amarillo's wool. With some of Sugar, the alpaca. So about 25% alpaca. It's so soft. So this took me a few weeks to do. And this is not even a little part of her wool. There is SO MUCH MORE!!




This is Buttercup's wool. 2 totes full! I just don't know how I'm going to get all this spun up. Plus I have about 16 more fleeces in totes just like this.




This is some roving I bought at SAFF. BFL lamb. It's so pretty. This is just 1 of the rovings. I bought 2 like this. So I have some really pretty tan colored alpaca. I thought I might spin some of that with some white and ply them together. I'll see what it looks like first. But I think the dark blue with some tan would look pretty.




This is some that I bought last year. I can't even remember what it is. But it's really pretty. And long! It's in the washer right now. I think I'll use my combs to get this made into roving.



                                                              Look how pretty this is! I love it.



So, I think I'm fighting a loosing battle here with all this wool. There is just no way I could have all this spun by the time the next shearing comes around in May. It's a little overwhelming, just looking at it all. I think I'll start looking around here for a mill that's close enough to drive to. I was thinking if I could just get it made into roving, it would be so much more manageable fr=or me. Because the preparation is what takes so long for me. I'm not really liking my little drum carder. So I have been using hand combs. You know how long that takes to just get enough for 2 bobbins? A LONG TIME!

Anyway, that's all I've been thinking about lately. Wool. If anyone knows of a good mill close enough for me to drive to, please let me know. I think there's one in Ga. but I just have to find it. And in N.C. And another near Nashville.

So back to washing wool and spinning! Have a great week y'a;;!

3 comments:

Alisa said...

I am drooling over your amazing fleeces!!! Lucky you to be drowning in wool and the thought of knowing there is more to come!! I might just be a tad jealous!!! I have 4 fleeces I purchased last year to finish washing so I can relate to your prepping woes!!!

Kris said...

I know. That's the longest part for me, the prepping. But I love it. I'll only have 10 sheep this year to shear. And the 2 alpacas go to alpaca shearing day at my friends farm.

Elizabeth said...

Oh goodness, looks like you're going to have a lot of fun and hard work with all that fleece!