As of right now the mill is waiting for my next batch of sheep fleece which after, sorting, scouring and carding will eventually be spun and turned into yarn. The decision is however, just what kind of yarn are we going to make with the fleece. It's really hard to decide how much of each aran, double knit and 4 ply to produce and then again what do we add to the merino fleece to give strength when processing it into sock yarn. Do I go with nylon or silk or for that fact any of the other alternative 'green' options such as bamboo or soya, its quite a puzzle.

However, before the fleece can be shipped off to the mill there is more sorting still to do and so currently some 250kg is waiting for me to find a nice dry couple of days to get out there to finish the sorting - mainly little bits of vegetation, straw and grotty daggy bits from around the bottom area!! Not a very nice job I must say but you do get used to it and if the weather's nice and the sun comes out then it can be quite a good job to be doing. In fact to be able to just sink my hands deep into the beautiful fleece is really very therapeutic - I suppose it is just that I am as close to nature as I can be at that moment and of course the lanolin is very good for my hands!



Next week I am off to collect the last batch of alpaca fleece for this year. First and better quality second cuts are what I am looking for to add to the batch of alpaca fleece which went off to the mill earlier in June. The alpacas were sheared in May 2009 and all live within a five mile radius of Perranuthnoe, Cornish Wools and Village Crafts.