Here I’m going to come up with some copy about why someone might want to spend a few hundred dollars to have a custom garment spun and knit for their lasting warmth and enjoyment!
Custom Knits
Blog
Selecting a Fleece
Using your Senses, and Good Sense!
#1: Sight
- Color
- Length
- Crimp
- Vegetable Matter
- Moths or Other Bugs
- Scurf
- Dung Tags
- Second Cuts
- Breeding Markers
#2: Touch
- greasy, or tacky?
- staple length intact, or broken?
- brittle tips?
- matting?
- fine textured, medium or coarse?
#3: Smell
- fresh “sheepy” smell?
- mildew, mold?
- urine?
- ram-smell?
#4: Intended Use
do you have a specific project in mind?
or are you spinning just for the joy of it?
Fleece Characteristics
The qualities in the fleece you select will, to some degree impact the way you’ll need to process it.
Greasiness:
High-grease fleeces will require washing at higher temps, and perhaps multiple washes.
Length:
Very long fleeces are not suitable to be carded (unless they are cut). Better to use combs or flick card. Very short fibers cannot be combed very effectively. Best to card (hand or drum).
Color:
If multicolored, do you want to blend for uniform color, or preserve the different shades?
Vegetable Matter (VM, veg):
Some veg may be removed via hand-picking, but you’ll get best result from combing.
Discoloration:
Can skirt out of fleece, or dye the wool.
Matted or weak tips:
Will require trimming of affected areas.
Shearing
If you want to either use your wool for hand spinning or market it to others for that purpose, you should make sure your shearer understands your goals.
Some shearers are all about speed, and just getting the wool off. You want someone who is going to preserve the quality of the wool while it’s being removed. This means: minimal second cuts, keeping the fleece in one piece (if it may be judged).