Started picking this interesting fleece in the hopes of getting all of it prepared this summer. I may do combing with some of it, but probably I’ll just card it all. I might add in some mohair locks to some of it.
This fleece is as close to licorice black as I’ve ever seen. The picture doesn’t capture the true color. There is some sun bleaching of tips, but in most places it is really minimal and still pretty dark. I’m planning to card the darkest parts together and then put the locks with brown tips together in a separately carded batch.
The fleece is fine but long and has a tight crimp. I think Marsha and I each started with about 3 lbs of raw fleece. I’ll have to check the box to make sure how much is there now that it is washed.
09-11-2022
Finished this project.
When I had hand picked and carded all the biggest, well-defined locks, I then moved on to flicking and then carding clumps of small locks. That worked pretty well and got out the weak tips in this part of the fleece.
I’m not sure how much I started with. In one place I had written 3 lbs, but I had given some away, sampled some, washed it, etc. after that.
I ended up with 25.25 ounces (722 grams) of batts. I had lot of waste and I’m also going to count the last portion that wasn’t in locks (maybe 2 ounces) as waste. This fleece is too long to card well with the fibers all jumbled. Also, I have enough!
I think this will spin up really nicely! I have it stored in two boxes that came from reams of paper.
Handspun
