by Vickie
Back in the fall DH and I drove to Montpeiller for the Fall Fiber Festival. I had heard about it while a member of a spinning guild a while back. I decided that despite working for a few hours on a Saturday, we could leave after I got done teaching and then drive up there. So after work we hopped in the car and drive a few hours away from here and went to the festival. I had a purpose for going. I had four very dirty fleeces that needed to be processed. I had washed two myself and decided that I would just pay someone else to do the work for me this time. I had taken one fleece to give this place a try and they did such a good job, they got my business again. So now they have done a total of 5 fleeces for me. I just love how clean my fleeces come back. This time was no exception.
While we were in Alaska on Christmas vacation, a nice little (well not so little) box arrived. I took over a week to open the box. This is what I found...
As you can see there are four different shades in the box. They sure didn't look like that when I dragged them up to the festival. I am so pleased with how they look. I wish I could tell you the kinds of sheep the wool came from but I can't remember. Two of the fleeces came from a farm in Suffolk, VA and the other two were gifted to me and I never did write down the breeds.
This is the darkest of the fleeces that I sent off.
The one of the far right seems to have a bit more gray in it than the one above. When I sent them off they were equally dirty so I really couldn't tell what the "cleaned" color would end up being. I am pleased with both.
This one seems to be more an egg shell with a hint of yellow. I could mix it with anything but since I have never dyed yarn I was thinking that this one and the one below would be great ones for that.
All-in-all, I am very pleased with the roving. I saw the weight on the box and it totaled 15 pounds. That's going to be a lot of spinning and that's going to take me a while...
5 comments:
They're all beautiful!
I have a feeling that if I spin all of that stuff up, I wouldn't need yarn for a few years! I have no idea when I am going to find time to do it all, but I am thrilled to have it!
You know what's really cool - if you spin those up and then dye them in the same dye baths, you'll get a wonderful range of colors. It's like magic.
Even tho I have my own boxes of roving to get thru those make me salivate - LOL T.
Sharon, I have never dyed anything before. Kind of scares me. I have thought about Koolaide but I know sometimes it can bleed and leave colors on your skin. I thought about chemicals but I would rather use something more natural. So guess I need to get a book to help me with the whole dying thing.
Tina-that's how I felt about yours when you got yours. I was so jealous and that made me get my fleeces cleaned so that I could get them spun up. I finally unpacked that big huge box and put them under my bed in a flat box with some herbs in there. I sure am hoping to spin some of it this year. I really need to quit my job and just spin!!
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