The background: Some friends of mine (a couple) gets eggs from this lady (you know, the kind of eggs with no hormones where the lucky birds eat vegetation and worms instead of chicken feed laced with bromide). Any way, they noticed that the Egg Lady also has sheep. Being good friends, they asked the Egg Lady what she does with the fleece. Turns out- and hold on to your chair so you don't fall off- she throws the fleece away. Throws. It. Away.
The story: Today was fleecing day at the Egg Lady's farm so I went to the farm with my
sheep breed cheat sheet (about half way down on the linked page). I asked the sheerer what kind of breed the sheep were. He replied "These are mutts." So, I have no idea what kind of sheep (or type of wool) I ended up with. The Egg Lady let me pick the sheep (fleece) I wanted prior to the sheep being sheered. I picked three fuzzy girls, each of them had black splotches on their face and legs but I wasn't too concerned- I am more interested in the staple length than the potential consistency of color. When I left the farm I left with (yes sir, yes sir) three bags full of fleece! I'll post my progress with the fleece, how or if I can skirt and wash it successfully. Wish me luck!
These locks are from the sides of the fleece. You can see how the dirt gets close to the skin of the animal. and there is just a tiny bit of white where the wool is closest to the skin.
These locks are from the top back of the fleece (just behind the neck). The fleece is finer and cleaner.
