Only For Sheep

After madly working on some birthday pieces I had a break today. No art, just a day full of fleece.

I love fleece. I love sheep, actually. I am wholeheartedly with Ellie Linton from John Marsden's "Tomorrow When The War Began" - sheep are misunderstood and underappreciated.

There are about nine fleeces awaiting processing. Most are from Suffolks, two are from Wensleydales and there are a couple of Merino fleeces as well. All of them come from my brother's farm, so I have a passing acquaintance with the animals, which is nice. I picked a Merino to do. The fleece comes from Merino 42, aka Baldric.

Baldric pre shearing. Some of the Suffolks are in the background.

It didn't start well. The fleece was well rolled, cut side out, compact but not compacted. And I could not find the end. If you can find the end the fleece just rolls out into a sort of sheep shape and it makes your job so much easier. Not today. I ended up with half right way up and half upside down and dags in two places (the daggy bits are from around the bum - they have the poo in them, and a fair amount of dried urine. You don't want to keep them).

Eventually it got sorted out but I was mainly grading just by feel rather than having position on the sheep to help. Shoulders and flanks are generally softer and longer than the britch, and you don't want the tummy wool as a rule - felted and full of weeds. So you skirt first (removing the outer edges, ie bum and tummy) and then you grade. I usually grade into three categories. One is the longest and softest, generally very fine. Three is coarsest and shortest, but still usable (makes good sock wool and warp). Two is in between.

Halfway through grading

There were a lot of second cuts in this fleece, which was quite frustrating. I came across a whole section that was beautiful - clean, white, so very soft. And full of second cuts. That means that the shearer hasn't gotten close enough on the first pass and comes past again. So what should have been a lovely long staple of about 7cm ends up being cut into two or three useless lengths. It happens. No one's perfect. But did it have to happen on such a soft section? It had to go.

And then I wash. And wash. And wash.

In warm water and Lux soap flakes to start with, to get rid of the sweat and lanolin and most of the dirt, and then in clean warm water to rinse out the soap and any remaining dirt. And believe me, sheep get dirty. The water is chocolate brown the first time. Even if you think the fleece looks quite clean, the water goes chocolate brown. Alpacas are worse. They LOVE dirt baths. Alpaca fleece plus water equals mud.

I'm at the second rinse of grade 2 at the moment (I wash in grades), and it is so beautiful. The whole fleece has a lovely crimp (that means the fibres are wiggly, not straight, which means any yarn I make will be quite elastic) and it is going so very white. Great to spin, easy to dye, a pleasure to knit with.

First rinse after washing. Already cleaning up well.

Next I will lay it out to dry and then pick over it to get out any weed seeds, sticks, what have you. And then it will get put in a pillow case and stored in a drum. I can get three fleeces to a drum. And then it just has to wait until I am ready to spin it.Which is another story.