Saturday, March 12, 2011

FLEECES!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY! The weather was beautiful today and I didn't have to work all day, so I was able to skirt a few of the fleeces! (Well, I should be doing laundry, but playing with fleece always trumps laundry!) I read another blog where a shepherdess was pricing fleeces according to how badly she wanted to keep the fleece for herself, and I thought to myself, what a good idea, sooooo...........all of my fleeces are $100 a pound. JUST KIDDING!!! I have made some decisions, and here are the first few I am willing to put up for sale.

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All of the fleeces are $12/pound. They have been skirted, but not washed. My sheep are not coated, they are free to frolic "au naturale" in the clean pasture. They are fed grain and hay, both at ground level, but they ARE sheep. They still manage to have vm in their fleece.

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Tabitha is SOLD!
First, there is Tabitha, a full blood Shetland. I processed her fleece myself last year and it produced a creamy, champagne white yarn and is very soft.





Tabitha has a 2 pound fleece and it is $24 plus actual shipping.




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Bernice is SOLD!

Next up is Bernice. She is a Shetland/Border Leicester cross. She is a half sister to my favorite sheep, Naomi (whose fleece I just cannot bear to part with!). Bernice's fleece ranges in color from very dark silver/grey to light cocoa. The Shetland/BL cross produces a super soft, crimpy wool, with curls on many of the tips. The bottom picture shows the different types of locks within her fleece.






Bernice's fleece is 3 pounds, which is $36, plus actual shipping.

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Cyrano is SOLD!
Next, there is Cyrano. He is a registered Sheltand ram with creamy, very soft locks. He does have a few areas of very light grey, which are noticeable from the back.






Cyrano's fleece is 2 pounds, which is $24 plus actual shipping. (I don't know what happened to the middle picture - I cannot get it turned correctly!)


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Pricilla is Sold!

And now there is Pricilla. She is a full blood Shetland. I processed her fleece last year also, and sold all of it, with rave reviews, at fiber shows. Pricilla has a few dark strands throughout her wool, which gives a wonderful depth to the cream color when spun.





At 1 pound, 14 ounces, her fleece is priced at $22.50 plus actual shipping.
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Princess is Sold!

Pricilla has a sister, Princess, and they have pretty much the exact same fleece. One has horns, and the other has shorter horns, which is the ONLY way I can tell them apart in the pasture. Princess' wool is slightly shorter, a little more dense, but the color is the same. Because of this, I did not take additional pictures.


Princess' fleece is larger than Pricilla's, at 2 pounds, 14 ounces and comes to $34.50 plus acutal shipping.
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Liza is SOLD!
And finally, I have a really nice fleece from Liza, a registered Border Leicester. Liza's fleece is quite lovely, and I pondered for a good amount of time if I should keep it, but in the end I decided I could let it go. Her fleece is dark, chocolate brown to light cocoa and again, very soft. It is very lofty, and huge! The table on which it is pictured is 6' long and 3' wide, and
I bunched it up to make it fit for the picture!


This fleece has amazing crimp and curl, and at 3 pounds, comes to $36 plus actual shipping.

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If you purchase a fleece, it will be packed in a box, weighed, and shipped from zip code 72936. Please email me at:

lorisarahbrown@gmail.com

if you are interested in a fleece or have more questions! Thanks for looking, and more fleeces to come soon!

~Lori

5 comments:

  1. Lori, what beautiful wool fiber. I bet it is hard to decide what you want to keep...I always keep more than I need and then have a sale before shearing again. We sheared this morning, I am down to 44 ewes. Are you about ready to lamb?

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  2. I bet your 44 are smaller now, too! Mine looked pitiful without all their wool. I was looking at udders this evening, and we are still a ways off, I think.

    Thank you for the compliment!

    Lori

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  3. I'm very tempted to buy some from you but I'm new in the realm of spinning and am not sure the best methods to process the fiber-- I've gotten pretty good using my drop spindle and am anxious to get more practice in on my wheel. I've been doing a LOT of reading about washing and carding-- any advice (other than to dig in and see what works best for me)?

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  4. Samantha, I think purchasing raw fleece is about the most economical way to try many different fibers, and you learn a lot about the fiber when you process it yourself. I say it is economical because you mostly just invest time to get it to the spinning state. Even though I have all this fleece from my own flock, I still buy fleeces from other shepherds so I can try different breeds.

    I wash fleece in my sink or bathtub, depending on the quantity. I use super hot tap water (sometimes with near boiling water added) and blue dawn. Lots of people have different preferences for soap, but this works for me. I soak for 25 minutes, remove fleece carefully(I use lingere bags in the sink or lay it out on cookie cooling racks in the tub) refil with plain hot water, and set the fleece back in to soak for 25 more minutes. This begins removing the dirt and soap. I repeat the plain water soaks until the fleece is soap free. If it is still dirty, I start all over again. Then it goes for a spin in the washer to remove as much water as possible, then spread out on beach towels to dry. I like using a flick carder to open up ends and I either spin from the lock or run several through my drum carder and pull that into rovings to spin from.

    There are lots of different ways of preparing a fleece, but this is my method. You just have to find what works for you! You will eventually find a fleece somewhere you will just have to have, and then the fun will begin and you will be hooked like the rest of us!

    ~Lori

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