From Fleece to fibre

 So our sheep have their winter woolies shorn off very professionally by a shearer who worked at such lightening speed I don’t think the girls knew what he was doing until they were turned back out feeling fresher and lighter. 

 First off you need to skirt the fleece. This involves laying the fleece out on a mesh panel or a tarpaulin and pulling away all around the dirty fleece and dags and any matted areas. 

Having washed your fleece in soap and hot water you must make sure its completely dry.  You can see on this Jacob fleece the staples are long, and the fleece has not felted. Its still in whole lengths from the shearing and this will be a real help when you come to crafting with the wool. 

 After the fleece is dry you will want to create rovings, which are loose fiber rolls of wool that is the final preparation for spinning yarn.  By transferring the fibres from brush to brush you create a rolled roving ready for spinning yard.

 The aim of the spinner is to take the rovings, or rollags as they are also called, and draw them rhythmically into the spinning wheel so that you create spinning yarn that is the same thickness, is free of bumps and lumps and has an even twist.  

 There really isn't anything as satisfying as making something from scratch, particularly wool crafts as it is one of the few arts where you can make your own garments from start to finish.  We can't wait to see what you create!