Raw Fleece - This is a new adventure

I've said it before, I must have ADD when it comes to crafts... or I'm trying to make up for the 10-15 year hiatus I took from all my crafting.

I've been learning how to spin!  No not one of those bike spinning classes... been there, done that, almost died!  I'm talking about spinning fiber into yarn.

Watching many youtube videos and reading everything I could find on the internet, I started with some fiber from one of the local wool shops and a drop spindle.

My reason for dong this?  Jake has a lot of hair!!  And I learned I can spin it into yarn and whatever you make from it is warmer than wool.

I'll have to take some pictures of the yarns I've spun so far.. but i the meantime, I have the pictures of the raw fleece I purchased from a wonderful farm in Saskatchewan.  Wooly Wool of the West.  If you ever get a chance to order from Val... do so!  You won't be disappointed.

So.. this is the package I received...

I was at first really disappointed because per the Canada Post tracking it was supposed to be delivered on the Friday... but, because we were at work, they kept it and I had to wait until after 1pm on Saturday to go get it.

Needless to say, Jim now had a woodworking project to do.  Once I washed it and dyed it, I needed a rack of some sort to place outside for it to dry.

So while I was washing and dying.. he was making me a rack.

Here's 2.25 lbs of Bert taking up the small space of my kitchen counter.  The order was for 1/2 a fleece, shoulder to britches.  And it's raw, meaning sheared off the sheep and packaged up.  There is still a bit of VM (vegetable matter - meaning straw, grass, hay, etc.).

And boy does it have a "farm" scent to it.  Brought back a lot of very fond memories... and Ashes went ballistic over the box it came in!

Here's a close up of the fleece.

Look at all the cute kinky locks.

This is what it looked like after I soaked it and spun it in the washer.

But that wasn't enough... I had to dye some of it.

I left one smaller batch natural... but this is what it looked like drying on the rack Jim built for me.

I've already started hand carding it to prepare it for spinning.  Doing so is removing a lot of the VM and it's so fluffy and soft!  I can't wait to begin spinning it.

For now, I'm extremely happy with my purchase and how beautiful this fleece is.  Can't wait to try others.