Adventures in Fleece - and so it begins.

Saturday, at MDSW I went to the fleece sale and quickly became overwhelmed by all the choices.  I spent about 90 minutes circling the tables heaped with bags of fleeces.  I sampled locks, listening for pings (good) and crunchiness (bad).  I thought I wanted a small Shetland fleece but when I looked at them, I decided dealing with a double coated fleece for my first processing wasn't a good idea.

I decided to find a small Jacob fleece, I tested several and found a 2.75 pound fleece and decided on it.  The fleeces were abundant and so were the people, the line to check out snaked around the room and out the barn.  I gave up and decided to give it more thought and return when the sale was less crazy.

Sunday, with little hope there would be much left I returned to the fleece sale.  I found two small Jacob fleeces.  I asked another shopper if she was knowledgeable and could help me.  I explained that I had taken Sarah's class on Friday.  We tested locks together, the smaller of the fleeces had a break and crunchy sound, even when we tested locks from different parts of the fleece.

The larger fleece tested well with a wonderful ping to the lock.  My new friend pointed out that some of the darker locks were shorter than the cream locks.   But as I was going to process the colors separately it wasn't a big problem. 

I proceeded quickly to check out and $41.25 later it was all mine.  I can't swear this is the same 2.75 lb fleece from Saturday but I think it is.

Penny wants to help.

My beautiful Jacob.

Two locks after a quick wash in Soak and hot water.



Locks after flicking.

It amazes me that the simple act of laying my fleece out in the backyard and washing two small locks has me so excited to process this fleece.  I was not keen on this at all prior to this evening. Tomorrow, I will load up on some mesh bags and Dawn dish washing liquid.  I am looking forward to sitting in the backyard with this sheepy smelling fluff on Saturday.