Back in September of what is now last year, I got the idea of processing my own wool for blending and spinning. The main reason was economy and the wish for unlimited amounts of wool for experimenting with. I found a local shepherdess and bought 3 fleece: 1 silver/gray, 1 black, and 1 white. The wool is Romney, and the fleece were 12-13 lbs each.
I’ve learned a lot in the few months that I’ve been working with the wool. I chose to work with the gray first, just randomly because it was the first bag I opened. It turned out to be the greasiest out of the 3! Washing wool is no joke, and takes quite a bit of patience. I made some mistakes, like changing the temp too drastically, and ended up with felted pieces that looked like wigs, but I was working in small batches so it’s not so terrible of a loss. I just throw those in the garden and compost, they’re good for the soil. I’m finally starting to get the hang of it, and I’ve produced a new blend for spinning. It’s a tweed blend of the gray Romney, Suri alpaca, and recycled Sari silk. I call it “Grandma’s Cosmic Hair”.
I’ve made some some batts and spun some yarn out of it:
The gray Romney has different hues within it. There are both grays and browns. It’s a very multi spectrum fleece with many natural neutrals.
These batts and yarn are available in my shop.
Happy New Year and as always, take care and thank you for reading 🙂
Sewcoordinated 