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Author Topic: Playing with fleece  (Read 7516 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Playing with fleece
« on: November 19, 2014, 12:11:01 pm »
I just love playing with fleece.  Yesterday I started using my new wool shed and sorted a delicious fleece.  It belongs to Freda, an old retired Hebridean ewe  :hugsheep:.  The fleece has faded to greys and fawns, as well as the odd bit of black, but has very little of the hairy top coat left, so is lovely and soft.
Today I'm washing it  :stir: - first soak is disgustingly manky, but it will soon be wonderfully clean and I can start prepping it.

Getting to play like that reminds me why I keep my sheep, and why I spin  :spin:.  I'm not sure what I'll make with the yarn, once it's spun, but it's definitely going to be something for ME  :yippee: :yippee: :yippee: (I love this icon, perhaps because I can't actually jump like that any more  :roflanim:)
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2014, 05:18:14 pm »
Most of my fleeces are in the loft because that's the only space we have. I can't get up there any more so i can't go and play. One nice dry day I shall get my OH to bring them all down and have a good look through.  :yippee: I can't do it either but I can dream. There isn't an icon for old crocks with walking sticks.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2014, 01:46:28 am »
Good to hear you have your wool shed up and running  :thumbsup:

We had a lovely 'old lady' Heb fleece for our workshop with Deb Robson - just gorgeous  :spin: :knit:

I need to be more focussed in using up my fleeces.  I have a lot to choose from - many part fleeces and quite a few full fleeces - and at the moment seem to spin for fun rather than having a project in mind and spinning with a purpose.  But then, now I have a loom...  :excited: :weave:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2014, 07:49:51 am »
Fleecewife, you are making me feel guilty. I have a few fleece wrapped up in the stable. I need to get on and do so something with them.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2014, 11:19:15 am »
Good to hear you have your wool shed up and running  :thumbsup:

We had a lovely 'old lady' Heb fleece for our workshop with Deb Robson - just gorgeous  :spin: :knit:

I need to be more focussed in using up my fleeces.  I have a lot to choose from - many part fleeces and quite a few full fleeces - and at the moment seem to spin for fun rather than having a project in mind and spinning with a purpose.  But then, now I have a loom...  :excited: :weave:

Where did you get your old lady fleece Sally?  I'm interested to know who else keeps them til they're old enough to have the supersoft variety.

The weaving should use up loads of yarn.  I was looking through bags of yarn, either left over from projects, or spun with nothing specific I mind, and thinking  :thinking:  weaving  :idea:
I bet you'll make more headway with weaving than me, just as with spinning  :spin:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2014, 11:27:27 am »
Fleecewife, you are making me feel guilty. I have a few fleece wrapped up in the stable. I need to get on and do so something with them.

Only a few Sally??  I am utterly snowed under with the things, but now I have my wool shed, and the polytunnel is cleared of veg so I can work in there too, I'm hoping to make some headway.  But I just want to sit down and spin, not have to do all the other stuff first, so I'm cherry picking the best.
Just pick one and do that, rather than thinking how many there are and trying to do them all at the same time.  That way you'll get through them.



I found a 2013 fleece of Freda's so I'll wash that and process the two together, so I have enough for a jumper.


What has attracted me to washing the fleeces is the sunny dry weather.  It's a horrible task in the wet.

.

At the moment I'm washing a shearling fleece from 2013 which was gorgeous when it was shorn.  Having hung around for 18 months it's gone  a bit dry and feels coarse.  I'll put some baby oil in the rinse water and hope that helps, otherwise it's the warp pile.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2014, 05:15:04 pm »
Where did you get your old lady fleece Sally?  I'm interested to know who else keeps them til they're old enough to have the supersoft variety.

It's a friend of a friend, south of here, who has pet sheep.  He's had them for years, they are mostly retired.  They live in what is basically a large lawned garden with high hedges all around - very sheltered.  Two of the old ladies have beautiful fleeces, and he also has a couple of crosses - one Shetland x Heb and one Texel x Heb which are very nice.  Last count he had 12 in all, I think he said.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

FiB

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Bala, North Wales
    • Facebook
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2014, 06:29:08 pm »
You've inspired me to have look through my  stash.  Very frustrating that my bobbins are full, waiting for me to pluck up the courage to try plying....  Ah well have to be drop spindle then :-)

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2014, 11:29:49 pm »
Plying? You can do it.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2014, 11:47:32 pm »
Plying's a doddle - and fun!   :excited:

Go on Fi, you can do it!   :spin:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2014, 12:37:21 am »
...and it's really quick compared to spinning  :thumbsup:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Stellan Vert

  • Joined Apr 2013
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2014, 08:21:23 am »
Hi Fleecewife

I'm envious too,

My shed is an MOT failed nissan micra.

OH evicted my fleeces when I had a fleece infested with moths.

But on the positive side, I am using my fleeces in age order.

SV.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2014, 11:38:38 am »
Hi SV.  I used to store my bags of fleece in an old LWB Landrover.  It turned out to be a wonderful home, all mod cons, for RATS  :o  I ended up having to burn all the fleece and try to get rid of the rat invasion - so keep checking yours.


 I think we need a rat icon.  Here's the rat catcher  :dog:  but we need his prey.  I know there's  :bunny: but that's not quite the same  ;D
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Stellan Vert

  • Joined Apr 2013
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2014, 11:44:46 am »
Hi Fleecewife

Thank you

I will keep a close eye on that,

as it is a metal box off the ground I didn,t think that rats would be a problem,
I had considered making my old micra into a chicken coop/feed store.

I don't think that we have a rodent infestation, but we are getting through a lot of rat poision at the moment.

SV

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Playing with fleece
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2014, 04:21:54 pm »
They come in via the engine compartment and small gaps around the place.  Maybe a Landie has more of those  ;D
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

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