Anyway, I'm sure you are wondering who the contest winner is! I am pleased to announce that Catskill Mountain Fibers gets to take her pick from the girls' roving shown and described below. She guessed I'd get back 19 1/4 pounds of roving from the processor, and she was only off by a few ounces. In case you are interested, I sent in 28.95 lbs. of fleece, so my return was 67% and some change. How does that compare with what other you other Shetland breeders have experienced in processing your own fleeces or sending them out?
Many thanks to all who entered my contest. If you see something below that you just have to try, it IS available for sale. :-)
Dinah, white (bump, long staple):
Rechel, light grey (loose roving, shorter staple):
Valentine, dark fawn (bump, long staple):
Valentine, light fawn (bump, long staple):
Bella, grey lamb (bump, long staple):
Bella, light grey adult (bump, long staple):
Proud to be grown in the U.S.A. at . . .
15 comments:
Ummm... Wow!! I receive alerts via email on my blog name and whatnot and was very surprised to find that I had won this contest! I never, and I mean NEVER, win anything. I am beyond thrilled!
I'm quite drawn to Bella - grey lamb!
Again -- Wow! And thank you, Michelle!
Valentine's is beautiful! I sent in 40 pounds of raw fleece and got back 31 pounds. Now some was Shetland, but 10 pounds was Corrie (heavy lanolin) and 5 pounds was Cheviot(lost the most on her also because of the lanolin), 10 pounds Alpaca mixed in all wool, and 15 pounds Shetland. I used Zielingers Wool Co. and I don't cover my sheep. They were heavy skirted and "monkey picked", probably too much so. I see the "garbage" around my fruit trees and think, there is still some good stuff in there, what was I thinking?! There is very little to no vt. in the roving I got back. I also sent in 5 pounds of Shetland recently and got 4 pounds back.
I have no idea what a normal yield is, but just wanted to say I love the wee bundles of roving. They're ever so cute. :)
All that from 4 shetlands? Wow they must shear a heck of a lot more than other shetlands I have been familiar with...
Congrats to the winner :)
Congratulations, CMF!
Michelle, I have learned so much and love your blog so much that I have given you an award, but you have to come visit my blog to pick it up.
Yummy looking rovings Michelle - can't believe - but I haven't even skirted my fleeces yet this year.
For the record - when I wash and pick my own fleeces - I yield about 85% - after washing. When I send in unwashed fleeces, I yield around 65 - 70%
Becky, the info is 'way back there in my posts but to keep it interesting (and maybe reward long-time readers with good memories :-) I didn't reiterate it for the contest. There were two clips from three of the girls, and three clips from Valentine! So that was nine heavily skirted fleeces, although a couple of them were six-month clips.
Yes that would change things :) I had assumed only one clip from each.
I think I can be talked into some grey fluff (Grey is my favorite color)! I'm always up for "Locally raised, organic" fiber! :)
Well, my original guess was not a typo, but I guessed too high. I was thinking about it based on all the stuff you took (more than just the few you had mentioned in the original post), and since I've only had experience with one raw fleece (and it wasn't from a shetland), I erred on the side of too much. Congrats to the winner! And hey - you're going to be BUSY at that wheel this winter! :-)
Hi Michelle, I love Valentine's dark fawn, is any of it for sale :>)???
Joyce
Yes, Joyce some of Valentine's dark roving is available. Email me using the link at right.
awww.
sigh
I thought it was just for the ONE fleece and I guessed way too low.
Bummer.
And it has landed again! I received the roving today and it's lovely! Thank you so much, Michelle.
I'll be leaving this roving to its natural color and spinning it to work gloves/mitts, hat and possibly a scarf as well. I'll be doing some pattern hunting this evening to see how it needs to be spun up.
:-) -Laurel
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