Sunday, October 05, 2008

My Ultimate Fleece Has Been Born

By Jove I've done it. I think I finally bread my ultimate fleece! I am at the point now just before winter where I have to cull the flock. One ram is going into the freezer, a Clun/Finn cross and a few will go for sale. I wasn't sure about this 8 month old ewe lamb. I liked her nice size and rate of growth and her fleece looked lovely and grew fast enough that she hitched a ride along with the goats for Saturday's fall shearing. It's always been just the two goats, which is why we drive to the shearer in the fall, but had I left this ewe until April her fleece would have been too long for my equipment. What I did not like about this ewe was her wildness. She is very flighty and nervous. Once I got the fleece home and washed and carded it, I was ecstatic. Above left is a batt I carded on my drum carder.

The flash washed out the color, it is black not gray

The fleece is the softest yet, it's quite fine but not too fine, the black parts that weren't sun bleached are dark, dark, black. In fact the shearer said she'd never seen such a deep black color. Naturally there was no coat on this gal until about a month ago but even so, her fleece wasn't too dirty at all. I can't wait to spin up a sample but my wheels are full of other projects of course. And just think; I get more fleece from her in the spring! And you can bet it will be covered. Weehee!

A little blurry but you can get an idea of the crimp here