Sheep...they have wool.
AND,
O! yeah...I do too!! I have lots of raw fleeces
waiting to be turned into yarn...and then, well...
maybe a scarf or a hat or...?
What's a "raw" fleece you might be asking?
It is the coat...
right off the sheeps back...literally.
The sheep doesn't have to give it's life to share it's coat.
It can share it's coat many times over, and....
When their coat is cut/shorn off, it doesn't hurt.
There are professional sheep shearers...
A good "sheep barber" is becoming harder to find.
But, some sheep have another coat that goes over
their wool coats. Really? and, WHY is that?
These are Corriedale sheep that are raised mainly for
their wonderful wool coats...
Many spinners prefer to buy fleeces that have
been covered by jackets because this keeps the
sheep's wool much cleaner.
After fleece is off of the sheep, the fleece
needs to be skirted. Skirting a fleece is to trim
off sections where the wool isn't of good quality or
where it is really dirty.
The picture below was found on Spinderella's Fiber Mill
Click on the link to read more great info on
skirting fleeces.
2 comments:
Thanks for the information on shearing. When my girls raised lambs for 4H it sure took us longer than 4 minutes to do a shear job. Loved the feel of the wool - it made my hands so soft.
Good luck with your new blog!!!
I would love a sheep book to add to my yet to be born grandchildren's library! What a fun blog this is going to be. I'll be following you!
Post a Comment