First Fleece

 

Raw Ryeland Fleece

  I have been a very busy girl just recently. A few weeks ago I turned 40 and Alex bought me a drum carder for my birthday. I don't like to let things sit idle and had previously done a bit of homework on smallholders in my area who keep rare breed sheep, so I went off to source a fleece.

It was a little bit too early for shearing to start so the best I could come up with was a year old Ryeland fleece. I went off to Arborfield to collect it and although I know that sheep live in fields and have a propensity to keep poo (amongst other things) in their fleece, I was quite shocked at just how smelly and claggy they really are. I haggled on the price and got it down from £20 to £15....just to cover the cost of the shearing.

I had done my homework albeit on a computer and reading various books so I knew what to look for in theory. I wish I had had the benefit of having my tutor, Carol, with me as she would have known what she was doing.

I got it home and decided to start processing it there and then. I read the advice from my drum carder and ran some very hot water to soak a small sample in. I left it there for a while and then tipped that water out and ran some fresh with a small squeeze of washing up liquid (literature all suggests 'Dawn' dish detergent but we don't seem to have this in the UK so I opted for Waitrose's own!). I left that again for a while and rinsed it. It was a small ball of pristine white fluffiness....such  a difference from the mucky, stinky thing I started off with. I did a larger batch in the same manner which I then had to leave to dry before I could start playing. The drying had to be done inside as it has been raining non-stop the last few weeks...apparently this is no bad thing as drying outside could felt the wool if you aren't careful.

The next morning I started to card the dry wool. Still more bits coming out of it....bits of straw and twigs. What I was left with was a rather lovely fluffy batt that was ready to spin. The wool had greyed a little when it had come off the drum carder but I put this down to it being new and the metal of the teeth staining the wool (it came out in the wash thankfully).

I have now washed the whole fleece...I couldn't have it sitting around in the house plus I really wanted to get cracking with it. I have spun a good five skeins thus far and they are coming out OK but seem to have a good few lumps and bumps which could be down to second cuts being processed with the bulk of the fleece. I should perhaps have been a little more meticulous in my pre-wash preparations. I didn't really do anything to them apart from the one batch that I picked the chaff out of. Other cardinal sins included agitating the water with the wool in it (impatience on my part) which again would have resulted in felt had I not been handling Ryeland fleece which is aparently reasonably tolerant of such things.

The keeper of the sheep, a lady called Lorna, has said that I could reserve this year's fleece from the same sheep and also that she has some Soay Sheep that will need rooing in July time. This is very exciting!