I am becoming fed up of
moving 
the fleece I acquired earlier this year out of the way every time I want to do anything .... the time has come to get it carded and stored ready for use.
I really don't want to card the fleece in the house so a sunny afternoon was perfect. A good decision as I quickly became covered in dust and flecks of wood shavings.
A little of the fleece put onto one of the carders and worked between the two carders, straightening the fibres and removing bits of dirt.
There is a romance connected to spinning, weaving and all things related. Fairy Tales tell of Princes falling in love with young girls on the wayside spinning and sweeping them off to a life in a palace.
Nothing like that happened thankfully, those princes seemed a dodgy lot (think Rumpelstiltskin and death threats). After an hour the cat came and helped by sitting in the basket I was putting the carded wool.
http://romneysuk.com/
Prior to letting me have this years fleece the owners of this Romney sheep have had to throw the fleeces away so are not used to keeping the fleece clear of dirt. So, despite washing the fleece when I first got it, there were a lot of bits of wood shavings; twig; and some bits of dried sheep droppings left to remove. I had done my best not to agitate the fleece to much while washing in but there were a few matted areas.
I spent the whole afternoon carding the fleece without seeming to make a dent, my carders are showing signs of wear, my arms were aching and I have scratches on my hands from the carders and some over-enthusiastic carding. There are now two bags of carded wool ready for use and all it has cost me is time. I can understand why serious spinners have carding machines this has been really hard work even though it was enjoyable. I am so grateful for being given this fleece and am looking forward to the next stage (and carding the other half of the fleece).
Recently I was told by an
acquaintance about their sheep giving birth and ever the opportunist I
wondered if they had a use for the fleece. The end result is I am now
the very pleased owner of a beautiful fleece (with a nice long staple)
and they did not have to throw away a perfectly good fleece.
Having got my fleece I had to get it clean enough to use - it was a little messy with some wood shavings and straw caught up in it as well as a few dried sheep droppings, but it was free so no real complaints. As I want to use it for felting I thought it should be alright to wash it. When I got my first fleece I was told that for DROP SPINNING the fleece should be unwashed but for spinning on a WHEEL it should be washed.
I washed my fleece in the bath with cold water and soap flakes being very careful not to over agitate it. I gave it about three washes and then thoroughly rinsed it and placed it flat on a clothes dryer across the bath to drip dry. It took about three days to dry completely.
While my fleece was drying I had time to look for my carders. This ended up taking two evenings. The first evening was spent searching through many boxes and cupboards and led to discovery of all sorts of treasures some of which I had forgotten I had. The second evening took me up into the loft and I found them in a bag with parts of my inkle loom. Thinking about it they were in a very sensible place for something I haven't used for a good many years.
http://www.woolery.com/store/pc/Carders-Combs-c7.htm
I then spent a happy hour in the garden carding my fleece, hard work but fun and rewarding as I filled my garden trug with carded wool There is a long way to go before the whole fleece is ready to use but that just means there is time to think about and plan projects to make.
