I have had many people question a fall shearing. I can't answer this. My thinking is this: Sheep raised for their wool are sheared only in the spring. They want the wool as long as possible. All sheep are sheared in the spring to remove the dirty fleece prior to lambing to make it easier and cleaner during birth. It is also more comfortable for the sheep to not have a heavy coat during the heat of the summer. The wool I am being gifted with is from sheep raised for meat. There is a school of thought that indicates the sheep grow faster without their metabolic energy going into wool. They have time to grow an adequate coat before winter and allowing the flock in a smallish barn would provide additional benefit.
I have made some progress on the 31 pounds I was given this fall. Not much progress, but some. I have no place to store the unwashed fleece. Therefore, I have it in a large Rubbermaid container outside in the carport. I won't have to worry about moths until spring. But, I was concerned about how the cold would harden the lanolin. I had learned in one of my podcasts, that this may make if difficult to wash it all out. So far, I have not had a problem. As you can see in the last photo, it cleaned up gorgeous! I will try to wash all of it before spring.
The photo above and below are fresh out of the feed bag and dumped onto the wool bag I made. I had to use lots of air freshener on this day! My cat, Mister, is shown enjoying the pungence. Sadie and Lucky sniffed around it as well. It was kinda hard NOT to escape the smell. This is why storing my uncleaned fleece indoors is not an option.
Below is a close up of some of the better locks. I am becoming more picky about what I save to process myself. When I was first gifted with fleece, I was salvaging whatever I could - like a Scrooge. It was a lot of time and work - and the end product was not desirable. Now, I am pickier and love the results. One of these days, I will do a new batt vs older batt photo comparison so you can see the dramatic difference. The main visible difference is in the number of neps in the batts. As LC Guy and I both improve our knowledge and skills, the overall quality improves as well.
After some sorting, picking out the VM, and washing in the washing machine, the locks come out looking like this photo below. NICE!
Drumcarding still has many challenges for me. I am working on going very slow. With 31 lbs in my future, this is frustrating! I am playing with ways to minimize the time, without changing the speed of the drum rotation. I have been checking a "batch" of locks for cuts and VM before putting them in the feeder. Then I put them through without flicking the ends in advance. I know that would be the best way, but that process is extremely hard on my hands - probably due to the fibro. So, I have to save that for the best of the best locks.
I laid the batt above over a lampshade. Normally, you can hold the batt up to a window or sunlight to see through the finished batt. I used the lampshade to be able to photograph it for the process. I love how it turned out...a couple neps, but otherwise it is thick, soft, and consistent. I sent it through the drumcarder 3 times - slowly.Below are photos of the finished batts taken indoors, in front of the window on a sunny winter day.
Besides going slow, the most trying challenge I have discovered recently is the time of year. Static electricity makes drumcarding a pain in the batt. I tried lotion on my hands, dryer sheets on my fingers, and on the wool, and the teeth of the drumcarder. The results were briefly effective. I did not want to use oil or spray on diluted liquid fabric softener. I used a little water to mist it while I compiled enough to spin a sample. I may just wait until spring to do the rest.
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