TdF day…nine?

This is a shoebox full of locks.

I spent my weekend washing, then flicking locks from the fleece I brought home from Maryland Sheep and wool. In the video I did some months ago I talked about what I look for when I pick a fleece, and why I chose this one. At some point I think I say that the fleece isn’t as greasy as a full Cormo. Someone needs to monitor me when I say things like that. Really. This fleece is easily as greasy as the finest Cormo I’ve spun. It’s totally worth it, but I wanted to be honest.

This started out as 3.8oz pulled from the center back of the fleece. I washed it in packets to maintain the lock structure. There’s a video coming of that process soon. Then I flicked the ends aggressively to get the dirt and dandruff to fall out. Sheep are dirty, disgusting creatures. There’s nothing like cleaning a fleece to remind you of that fact. After washing and flicking, my 3.8 oz became 1.6oz. I will have to wash just shy of 5lbs to get 2lbs for a sweater. No wonder the finewool breeds are so big.

This is the crud that flicked out of the locks. Gross.

I’ll try to work my way through the 11lb fleece over the next few months. As it is, this 1.6oz will keep me in spinning for a long time. It’s so fine that I’m tempted to try the Margaret stove lace spinning thing on it. This much wool might get me a whole shawl!