Jacob fleece
As I mentioned in yesterday's posting, I got a fleece at the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival. The whole event was a little sad since the weather was harsh and very few people showed up. It was especially sad when I looked at the vendors' license plates and saw that folks came all the way from Michigan, Missouri, etc. Knowing how the profit margin in the sheep & wool business is so slim, these events really count if they are successful and really hurt if they're not.
I did my little share of shopping however. I bought a soft and crimpy Jacob fleece. It's about 65% white and 35% black.
Since the weather was so cold and wet that day, I really could not feel the fleece too well in my fingers. And even though the nice sheep lady offered to unroll it for me, I cringed at the thought of a nice clean (almost no VM) fleece touching muddy wet ground. So I just poked around in the bag in which it sat and tugged a few staples to check for any weakness. The fiber seemed good. So I bought it. It was only a couple of pounds anyway.
When I got home I immediately washed a few ounces of it (yes, ounces, since we moved to Cambridge we had to sell our nice washing machine and now I have only a big sink to work with... if any of you have tried washing wool in a portable washing machine--i.e. those that hook up to the sink faucet--please let me know how that worked out, I'm thinking about buying one).
I did notice that there were bits of stubby kempy hair, not too much, just sporadic clumps here and there. Anyway, here are some photos of the processed fiber. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but alas, the lighting and camera need tweaking and there's no time for that right now.
The staple length was very short for combing, but I really don't enjoy handcarding that much, so I combed the 2.5" staples, which is very annoying too, btw, but at least it goes faster.
Jacob wool is very interesting because the spun up yarn always fulls nicely and becomes stretchy and squishy, but still holds its shape well. Jacob is not next-to-skin soft, but I think it would make a great outdoor cabled sweater. Since there's only a couple of pounds of it, I'll probably make something for a little person--hmm... who could that be?
I did my little share of shopping however. I bought a soft and crimpy Jacob fleece. It's about 65% white and 35% black.
Since the weather was so cold and wet that day, I really could not feel the fleece too well in my fingers. And even though the nice sheep lady offered to unroll it for me, I cringed at the thought of a nice clean (almost no VM) fleece touching muddy wet ground. So I just poked around in the bag in which it sat and tugged a few staples to check for any weakness. The fiber seemed good. So I bought it. It was only a couple of pounds anyway.
When I got home I immediately washed a few ounces of it (yes, ounces, since we moved to Cambridge we had to sell our nice washing machine and now I have only a big sink to work with... if any of you have tried washing wool in a portable washing machine--i.e. those that hook up to the sink faucet--please let me know how that worked out, I'm thinking about buying one).
I did notice that there were bits of stubby kempy hair, not too much, just sporadic clumps here and there. Anyway, here are some photos of the processed fiber. I apologize for the poor picture quality, but alas, the lighting and camera need tweaking and there's no time for that right now.
The staple length was very short for combing, but I really don't enjoy handcarding that much, so I combed the 2.5" staples, which is very annoying too, btw, but at least it goes faster.
Jacob wool is very interesting because the spun up yarn always fulls nicely and becomes stretchy and squishy, but still holds its shape well. Jacob is not next-to-skin soft, but I think it would make a great outdoor cabled sweater. Since there's only a couple of pounds of it, I'll probably make something for a little person--hmm... who could that be?
posted by Ana at 5/23/2006 12:35:00 PM
1 Comments:
I really enjoyed looking at what you do with the fleeces you get. I love the naturally variegated yarns you make. I am working on washing the fleeces I bought at MDSW, trying to decide on dyeing methods, colors, projects, etc, but mainly just enjoying the washing right now.
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