Henrietta just happened to be lined up with her freshly skirted 2013 fleece.
Henri is one of our "characters". And other than cookie monster Mia, our only chummy Jacob. She has the softest, darkest (too dark for breed standard), loveliest fleece...that is so full of VM (vegetable matter) that I didn't even skirt her 2012 fleece last year.
After testing the King of VM (Boudreaux) last year and finding that Ohio Valley was able to clean it up to a tolerably spinnable roving, I decided it might be worth giving ole Henri a try this year. I even pulled out her 2012 fleece. We fed Bermuda grass hay last year and orchard grass this year. We are going to stick with orchard grass from here on out. Her 2013 fleece is salvageable I think. 2012...probably hitting the mulch pile. Henri, Henri, Henri...
My assistants. With a crowd of onlookers trying to figure out how they might get in that extra grassy special lamb lot. I moved the skirting table in there in an effort to get Maisie situated in there and out of the yard. The strawberries have filed a formal complaint ;-).
8 comments:
I was amazed at the job the mill did on my fleeces last year, hope my fleeces are going to be ok this year, girls are starting to roo already and shearer won't be here for another month.
Maisie is looking so good, that strawberry diet must agree with her.
I was amazed at the job the mill did on my fleeces last year, hope my fleeces are going to be ok this year, girls are starting to roo already and shearer won't be here for another month.
Maisie is looking so good, that strawberry diet must agree with her.
Ummm...was that a "chummy" or "chubby" Henrietta? You got alot of fleece from that gal.
Core roving from Jacob fleece is so much fun to spin and a treat for the senses as well as being forgiving to a less than perfect spinner. I just loved picking and separating mine ;-)
I see Betsy laying on the bed sheet to make sure little of her coat gets into the mix.
I know you enjoy this part of fleece prep. Happy Spring!
So pretty!
28 fleeces! Wow, what fun!
Love the fleece/sheep combo shots! Every time I see that cat I hesitate thinking, "Why is my cat..." You'd think I would eventually catch on. *sigh*
Henrietta's fleece is an awesome colour, even if it is too dark for breed standard :). It has some nice crimp to it as well. It's amazing what a pair of combs or a flick carder can do with removing excess VM. I've never actually spun Jacob but the one fleece I got to see was so coarse it was like steel wool and full of keds as well.. shudder... I know that lots of people rave about how nice they are so I'm sure this one was just badly cared for. You can't beat the colour variety though.
So all wool is not created equal? I have saved my dog's fur for the last 4 years and am about to shave him down for the spring. He's a Portuguese water dog with fur like a poodle. I'm planning on taking his fur up to the North GA mountains to a place that processes alpaca fur and hope to have yarn made out of it!! All of this is hopeful and wishful thinking!!
Sure hope that your sheep cutter is a heck a lot faster than me!! I've been cutting on Augie from 10am this morning to 5pm. Using the scissors and dog shears. Got a huge trash bag of hair/fur!! Guess I'll try to find someone process it for me!!
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