Today in the Woolshed I am sorting fleece - or rather I am outside the shed in the sunshine, its such a lovely day here in Perranuthnoe. My day began sometime after sunrise when I took my dogs Sharna and Layla along the cliff tops and then down to the beach to swim in the sea, they loved it. Too early and cold for me yet but I did some beach cleaning, I have a mission regarding plastic and came back with bottles, bags, floats and string. Didn't really make an impression but every little helps so they say.
So back to fleeces, there are some beautiful fleeces in the sorting pile from Leicester Longwool, Jacobs, Manx Loughton and Portland sheep and also some gorgeous alpaca fleeces. I will be removing all the 'daggins' the grotty bits from the back end of the sheep!! and the coarser fibres and poor quality fleece, the aim is to have the yarn with a soft as possible finish. I will then 'bag up' the fleece ready for the mill in breathable bags tied tightly at the top so as to hopefully keep out the moths until processing begins. The Woolshed smells wonderful - I read somewhere that dried lavender will keep moths away and so I have put lots and lots of lavender flowers in there.
The fleece comes from local farmers within a 25 mile radius of Perranuthnoe and I personally go to each farm to look at the animals and to check the condition of the fleece before I buy it. My aim is to keep everything as natural as possible, no chemical dyes just natural colours.
From last year's clip I have produced 100% pure Cornish natural yarn for knitting (4ply, double knit & aran) and some throws and scarves. Currently only natural cream products are available from our first processing batch of Lleyn fleece.
So until my next post - by for now
Valerie
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