Thursday, March 14, 2013

Harvest Time... for wool, that is!

I had long anticipated getting the fleeces off our seven sheep, as I have really come to love working with their locks in my felting and their fiber was looking wonderful.  It's nice to let their wool grow as long as possible, but if we wait too long, there's a greater likelihood of them getting messed up with excess hay and other vegetable matter.

Our daughter and her friend took them out for a good walk the night before shearing, which they truly seem to enjoy! I swear they even think it's fun jumping over logs!
Look at that form, lol!

I took the sheep to my friend Dianne's for shearing, and helped with skirting fleeces from her sheep.  I think I oohed and ahhed over just about every fleece that was set on the wide table for us to skirt (pick out and trash the dirty or coarse parts).
Dianne and her husband Mike looking over Jeffrey's fleece.

The two shearers were fantastic and very experienced, leaving very few "second cuts" for us to pick out.  (Here, they're trimming a ewe's feet).
 
Here I am with one of my favorite fleeces... and I've already washed a little bit of it, dyed it, spun some and put it to work as fringe on a new nuno felted shawl!




Yep, nothing like a spring harvest!






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