[minibn]

Hi

I know it's not really the right time of year to get rid of fleece, however I have a large bag of fleece from my 5/6 Shetland sheep. I have kept it from last summer. Do I have to get in touch with the wool board? Or can I do something with it myself? I don't think it is the best of quality, as it's mainly smaller chunks as it didn't come off my sheep in one piece. If I wanted to get something made from it, how would I go about doing this? Or does this sound mad.

Any thoughts

Thanks.

[Bionic]

It works out really expensive to get it processed commercially and they might not even entertain such a small amount. You could try someone locally who spins, maybe through a club.


Have you thought about trying to spin it yourself? Of course a spinning wheel is an expensive thing to buy but you could always start with a spindle.  A lady at my club uses one quite successfully.


Alternatively you could use it to make a peg loom rug and then you don't need to spin it at all.

[minibn]

That sounds like a great idea. It may sound like a silly question but how do u prepare the wool so that it can be peg loomed? Iv never tried doing anything with raw wool before.

Thanks

[Bionic]

There are loads of utube videos you can look at and I am sure there are loads of different ways to do it too but I wash and dry the fleece and then just pull bits off and twist them around my fingers a bit so that it resembles a sort of thick wooly rope and then off you go.
My first one was very loose so I would say make sure you pack it in tightly.

[minibn]

Thank u, I shall give iy a go.

[SallyintNorth]

Doing exactly this is on my 'will do it one day' list so please share your experiences!

One of my Guild friends has mats and so on she's made this way, and she says use a good strong cotton or hemp/twine for the warp, and yes, really press it down before you tie it off. 

[Dogwalker]

I've made small ones for chair pads which have worked well if you decided to start with something smaller.
Are you near any other TASers who could lend you a peg loom and get you started.

[Katrina]

Really love this idea, can't wait for shearing next year now   

[JFisherGreenlea]

Katrina

I stated needle felting last year for the exact same reason of not knowing what to do with the fleeces - my coloured ryeland fleeces look really good on natural coloured items.

Always worth a go before you send them off as you'll get very little from the WMB.

Joanne

[Katrina]

Brilliant, thank you for the suggestion, I will you tube it and see how that works.  It will be great to try these things and see what I can do with my little brown sheep.  But probably not my little white Ryeland who seems to be the dirtiest sheep I have seen, I am sure she rolls in the mud as soon as it rains 

[JFisherGreenlea]

Katrina - just need to wash the white ryeland fleece then the options are there for that one too!

[Katrina]

I will certainly give it a try with the washing but I could be there sometime, she reminds me of one of those children in the washing powder adverts that show how dirty clothes can get  I think there would be a lot of soaking  I saw your felt animals on your facebook page, they are amazing!!! Cant wait to try 

[Bionic]

Katrina, my white ryelands look terrible at the moment, especially the one white lamb I have from last year. I agree with the others. She will wash up ok 

[Katrina]

Thank you.  I did wonder if it was a Ryeland thing or a Sally the Sheep thing  all the others look very clean after the rain and a gusty wind blow dry.