ChiChi

The fleece I bought at Shepherd's Harvest came from ChiChi, one of Joxer's Jacobs.  Marcia Hathaway is the shepherdess.  It was beautifully skirted and has barely any VM (veggie matter) in it.

Jody teaching us how to skirt a sheep fleece (The table was Theresa's and for her alpaca fleeces.)  The fleece is spread out on the table and the person skirting the fleece goes around pulling out the really dirty bits and large veggie matter before selling the fleece.  

 I started the scouring process of the 3.3-pound fleece on Monday and finished the last two batches yesterday. Click on the link to read more about Jacob sheep.

This is the sample and photo that came with the fleece.  I cleaned the sample and it shows the beautiful variation of black to white.  Compare the white in this photo to the one below.  

The light in the basement is not very good, but this photo shows the colors nicely.   I divided the colors into batches and started from black to white.  The yellow tinge is from the lanolin and any dirt on the wool--in the grease, so to speak.  After sorting the wool my hands were very soft from the lanolin.

I have five of these little tubs.  The sink fit two, so one in the soap and one in the rinse worked out well.  I was able to do two runs through the soap (Dawn) and two runs through the rinse for each batch.  Note the clear water in the yellow tub.  Hot water and soap (I used a bit of Dawn dish washing soap) cleans the wool nicely.  When scouring, be mindful of the water temperature and agitation because shocking the wool in transition between wash and rinse soaks can cause felting.  

The water in the yellow tub shows the water after the first soak.

Handling the wet wool gently I placed two batches in the washer and spun out most of the water.  The spin cycle does not agitate the wool, so it is a safe way to get the moisture out of the wool for faster drying time.

I spread out a towel on the table and spread out the wool.  

A panorama of wool.  Scouring is finished, now the fun begins!

A day at the festival

On Saturday I went to Shepherd's Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo.  I did not take any classes, but did do a demo on top whorl spindle spinning.  It was such fun.  The demo area was in Building A and Andrea from Black Cat Farmstead was beside me.  Seeing the antique wheels lovingly restored is always a treat.  The first purchase of the day was a spindle sporting a glow-in-the-dark whorl 3D printed by Andrea's son.

A 3-D printed spindle whorl...

...that glows in the dark!

There were lots of vendors, some new some familiar.  I love the patterns from Ewetopia and purchased a few including Daisy and the October Cowl.

Sheep were sheared on the hour and Jody, one of my friends from Anoka Fiber Works, was skirting fleeces.  Between the shearing we talked about fleeces for sale in the barn.  I mentioned the beautiful Jacob fleece from Joxer's Jacobs.  Jody's eyes lit up and she said how nice they were.  I was not in the market for a fleece but her comments piqued my interest.  We went to the barn together and looked at the fleeces.  I had two in particular that I liked (Jody, you taught me well) and she agreed.  The smaller 3.3-pound fleece was mine!  Yesterday I roughly separated the colors.  Today I began the scouring process.  The wool is even nicer than I originally thought and nicely skirted.  ChiChi is the sheep with the lovely fleece.  The scouring is going well so far.  I worked from dark to light, which is my last batch.  The wool is fluffy and soft and the combination of natural black, gray and white is really pretty.  I will be interested to see how many yards of each color I can spin.  Perhaps enough for a Fair Isle vest?

Baaa!

Jacob fleece before dividing and scouring.

These little lambs were chilling in the barn.

It is always nice to know the names of the sheep.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cookies n' Cream, although they are all cute.

The sheep surely look different when sheared.

Baa baa black sheep.  This little fellow was  so soft and sweet.

Pretty roving for sale in the barn.

My friend Jennifer.  It was so good to see her!

Mary from Anoka Fiber Works gives a spindle spinning lesson.

Andrea from Black Cat Farmstead grows flax.  Preparing the flax into linen is labor intensive. I did it one time before we moved to Minnesota.   

My new spindle, Stella with the beautiful Shetland wool roving I bought.