#processing fleece

[soleils-stitches]

I'm not doing tdf this year HOWEVER in exciting fiber news I have wool combs now! I don't have good pictures due to poor light quality but the Hebridean fleece I bought last year is combing out into beautiful, soft, springy nests.

That being said, the waste is really hard to deal with. I kind of want to see what would happen if I put it through my drum carder since there's a lot of decent length fibres there. And hey, if it doesn't work out, I have a lot I can gift to my friend for needle felting purposes!

[notquitebilateral]

Flicked open the tips, washed, flicked open fully, sorted into categories by feel/length, and ready for further processing. Am I going to hand card, drum card or spin from what I have? Not a clue, one step at a time.

Note to self, next fleeces get sorted during skirting and pulling apart for further processing and storage. There is such different consistency between different parts of this fleece and I am learning a lot from my mistakes.

I am about halfway through the white fleece with a large ram's fleece and some yearling lambs shears in the yellow bags.

*More muffled screaming from a pile of wool.*

[soleils-stitches]

Finally caved and bought a 40l flexi tub to wash my fleeces in because I cannot stand doing like 50g at a time in a washing up bowl anymore. Also thank god for testosterone and getting fat because there is no way in hell I would have been able to haul a 40 litre tub of water and sheep fleece around before either of those things

[soleils-stitches]

I'm also pretty sure this fleece was never skirted properly, and it was definitely never picked. I have a huge bundle of second cuts and matts and vegetative matter that I've had to forcefully comb out because it's just everywhere in this fleece

Also I should have worn my overalls to work on the fleece, seeing as they're what I use for messy work, and yet