Boulderneigh Bonny, still waiting to be rooed. Yearling micron test results: 24.6 AFD, 6.2 SD, 25.1 CV, 12.3 CEM, 82.7% CF, 24.8 SF. Bonny is my first offspring out of two Boulderneigh-prefix sheep. She is the granddaughter of my first (and coarsest) Shetland, so I was happily surprised by her micron results this spring. I plan to keep her and see what she produces with finer-fleeced Bunker next year.I need to get Bonny's fleece rooed so I can send it and her daddy Blake's fleece off to the lady who reserved them both. I still need to skirt Bramble's fleece, too; I'm hoping to get to that tomorrow. Then all I will have left to skirt are Bart's fleece, which I am splitting with Laura, and Browning's fleece, which has not been spoken for. If no one buys Browning's fleece, I will have it processed into roving for myself. Brian has been requesting something made from his sheep's wool for several years now.
Sitting in long committee meetings at church has given me time to finish up the second color of Romney. It is a purply burgundy that I have not been able to successfully capture. After trying and failing, I threw in the towel:
I've always been partial to black & white photography anyway!Here is a photo of both colors, 80 grams of each plied and waiting to be skeined and washed:
Fiber and photography have become my most common mediums of artistic expression. The years I did two-dimensional commissioned work (scratchboard, charcoal, pastels, oils, stained glass, watercolor) seem like a lifetime ago. Will I ever scratch and sketch and paint and solder again? I hope so, but in the meantime, I have enjoyed teaching figure drawing to high school students in our homeschooling co-op:
And I've signed up to teach Textiles 101 again next winter!That's it for now from . . .
8 comments:
Rooed?, Micron results, "to skirt" a fleece. I guess I need sheep shearing and fleece 101. I have no idea what all of this means... but your photos are beautiful and I'm thinking that your sheep are very lucky that they have such a knowledgeable owner.
Farmlady, rooing is harvesting fleece by plucking it off rather than shearing. On the Shetland Isles that was how the fleece was harvested, but not all modern Shetlands have the distinct delineation between old and new growth that loosens a fleece naturally and allows them to be rooed. Skirting a fleece just means to take off all the undesireable parts - the dirty belly wool, the short bits left when a clipper goes over an area twice, etc. Micron testing measures how the physical diameter of the fiber among other things; finer diameter (measured in microns) fiber is softer, all other things being equal. I am breeding for fine fleeces, and some of the handspinners I sell fleeces to (as well as some breeders interested in sheep) want these numbers as "quality assurance." Does that help?
Nice spinning Michelle!
I used to love to draw, but like all of my crafts, I am near fanatic about finishing a project before I sleep. This has lead to many sleepless nights while I plug away at a picture or painting!
I'm so tempted to take Browing's fleece! But I should probably get through at least one of my own first, right? Thanks for the explaination above. It helped me out too.
Jared and I finished off his first skein yesterday with plying, setting, and twisting. Now I need to really get my wheel going on mine!
Michelle, who do you send your fiber to for cleaning and roving?
thanks!
Thanks, Becky - high praise, coming from you!
I really wish I could sit and draw the figure with my students in class, but alas, I must be the teacher....
Kim, I've used a couple different processors, one in OR and one in CA. There's another one in OR I've heard good things about that I may try. (Not very helpful, I know, but I try to use processors near enough - or that attend one of the two big OR fiber festivals - that I can either pick up or deliver, or both, because shipping adds a lot to the cost.
Congrats to both you and Jared!
beautiful fleeces, Michelle, it's going to make a fabulous garment.
Post a Comment