Tour de Fleece Update

July 10 - I spun some Wensleydale roving from Natural Obsessions on July 9, finished the rest of the 8 oz on the 10th and also plied it. It's gorgeous. I haven't set the twist yet, but I love it. It's so shiny! I think I might knit Bloom with this yarn instead of selling it. (Click the photo to see it up close in all its glory)



July 11 - I started spinning some lovely superwash roving hand-dyed by Zero. It's really pretty and I love her fiber. Her dyeing technique is sort of irregular and really saturated. I wanted to spin low-twist singles, but the fiber is happy being thin and I think I'll end up plying it back on itself to make a sport-weight or so 2-ply. I can already tell this might be one I want to keep for myself.

July 12 - I washed some Rambouillet fleece from Lowder Colours. She raises coated sheep and her fleeces come highly recommended on Ravelry. I bought part of Alfred, a badger (grey and white spotted) and Lilo, a white. Alfred's whole fleece was nine whopping pounds, so I limited myself to three pounds. There were only 2.5 pounds of Lilo left so I took her fleece too. Rambouillets are related to Merinos, so the fleece is fine, crimpy and high in lanolin. It's been washing out into very soft fluffy fiber with little to no felting, but it takes three soap washes and two rinses to come clean. It's slow going.

July 13 - Washed some more of Alfred.

July 14 - Washed some more of Alfred.

July 15 - Finished washing Alfred and started on Lilo. I've finally learned to put these fleeces in a single layer in the lingerie bag as they came off the sheep. I'm not separating locks, so it's staying in a sheet formation. I also found if I soak it with the tips down, the sand and debris falls out. These are really sandy fleeces, but I don't mind because sand washes out easily. I think two of my alpaca fleeces were raised on clay because I got deep brown silt when I washed those. It's part of the fun of washing fleeces. I love seeing all the dirt and grease coming out and feeling the fluffy clean fiber when it's all finished.

It will probably be a while before I get to it, but I'm thinking of combing Alfred's fleece into a naturally variegated top and then spinning it into a two or three-ply yarn. I'd like to kettle dye the yarn after it's spun so I can get subtle variegation due to the whites and greys taking the dye differently. I have a sample of fiber dyed on a grey wool base from my June box and it's really pretty and muted.

My sister is visiting from out of town so my spinning time has been very limited. It's okay. She's worth it.