@@LindaOfWindyOaks it really is🙏, started this adventure,in november, knowing a little in advance about wool and sheep, living in the contry, we have lots of farmers that gives away wool,, allreaddy made myself a sweather,💪🤭😅 getting better at spinning, it is nice to know the small details, glad I found your Channel , gretings from Danmark ☺️🙋♀️❤️
Thank you for this video! I have my first fleece, and the most basic blending and spinning tools (combs, blending board, wheel, and dye equipment). At what point and how do you remove the lanolin?
If I'm removing it and not working in the grease, I wash and dry my fleece prior to combing or carding. I also try to leave just a little lanolin in - and that's a personal choice as to how much you like to work with - as I find the fleece works up more smoothly and I know I'll wash it again after the yarn is spun and again after the yarn is knit/woven up.
So - I've got a shetland fleece from a festival from maybe a few years ago. I stored it in a plastic bag, then sealed it tight in a vacuum sealed bag. And NOW!!! I believe I am ready to go for it!! I truly love lanolin and minimally processed yarn. If I wanted to minimally process this shetland fleece - could I just flick it? Or comb it? I've read that combing an unwashed fleece can cause issues with the combs and tines (spelling?) later on....I understand that washing a fleece gets out a lot of dirt, vm - but this fleece seems like its pretty pristine!
You absolutely can flick it or comb it. You do want to clean off any build up, but Shetlands aren't typically heavy lanolin fleeces so it shouldn't be a problem. Personally, I like working with both washed and unwashed fleeces. Make sure you wash your hands after processing an unwashed fleece and don't touch your face or eat while working with it, but other than that, go for it! If you're not sure which you prefer, sample. Take a handful of locks and wash them, then a handful that aren't washed. Try your different methods of processing (combing, carding, flicking) and spin it up and see what you like and how the yarns differ.
@@LindaOfWindyOaks - Awesome!!! Thank you!! I'm currently attempting to sort a Shropshire fleece as well...this I think I'll have to wash, there's tons of lanolin and a bit of VM. I've worked with sheep before - so I know all about the nitty gritty stuff : )
Hi Linda I’m glad I found you! Just got my first Shetlands 2 weeks ago! What do you know of the dual coats? I’m very new to all of this! I’m going to have to look into what you said about the layer of lanolin and having a hard time sheering- I think that’s what happened to us! It just wasn’t working very well! Thankyou! And Much love from Kansas!
Congrats on getting your Shetlands! I don't know much about dual cowts as I specifically chose single coated lines when I got mine. :) Are you on Facebook? There's a group with some amazingly knowledgeable folks. It's called "Shetland sheep".
For goodness sake put the waste fleece in the compost. No matter how hard you work, you will have a bad product. Your sheep will grow wonderful new fleece faster than you can ever deal with a poor quality one. Working with a clean sound fleece is a joy. Life is too short to bind yourself down to trying to salvage a dirty weak one. I’ve been spinning since 1989 and learned this lesson the hard way.
