I’ve been processing quite a bit of fleece recently of different kinds so I thought I’d share the things I’ve learned along with some thoughts on selecting a fleece, maybe if it’s your first time or if you just fancy a read.

It can seem daunting for a first time fleece processor but no fear! There are things out there to help you e.g books, fiber farm owners, the internet – blogs etc. Don’t take everything I say here as gospel, and use the information here at your own risk (however ‘risky’ fleece can be?!) Like I said before, I’m just sharing what I’ve learned and I don’t pretend to be an expert! If you have any knowledge that you might want to share with us, please feel free to comment.

So anyway, here are the main things that I ask myself when I’m looking at fleeces for spinning;

Space and time – and experience:
Can you physically process the amount of fleece you’re considering buying? e.g do you have the time and space to process it? Could you possibly buy half to start with? Choose a fleece to suit what kind of space and time you have available to you! For example, if time is in short supply you might want a relatively easy to process fleece i.e maybe don’t go for a longwool fleece with lots of lanolin as sometimes they can be very tangly and they need more washes to get all the lanolin out. So if you want to keep the lock structure in tact, you’ll need to separate all the locks individually and be more vigilant when you wash them to preserve the lock structure – which all takes time! If time is of no consequence then you have more options, as long as you have the patience! Also if this is the first time you’ve washed a fleece, you might want to avoid the really fine wools as they are easier to felt and you want to allow for messing up at least a little bit! I’d suggest to wash in small batches to build confidence and if you ruin a bit of it, you still have some more to be getting along with. Also don’t forget you need a flat surface to dry all this washed fleece on (away from radiators preferably), so make sure you have the space to store the raw fleece and space to dry and store the washed fleece (also space to wash it!).

Is the fiber ‘structurally sound’?
By this I mean, is the fiber brittle? Such things as weather, diet and health of the animal can affect the strength and hand of the fiber. When you go ‘fleece shopping’ you can ask if it’s ok to feel the fiber and they might let you tease a lock from the fleece to do your quality control tests on it! So to check for brittleness, hold the lock or a partial lock between the thumb and forefingers of both hands and do a short sharp-ish tug (don’t do it so hard your arms fly everywhere!) just sharp enough so that if you hold it up to your ear you can hear whether it makes a snapping noise or not. If you hear lots of little snaps, that’ s the fiber breaking and it probably won’t hold up to spinning or making a nice strong yarn. It might be able to be used for something else but let’s just concentrate on fleeces for spinning. Some fleeces can be described as ‘tippy’ – where it’s just the tips of the locks that are weak. You can test the tips by trying to pull off the tip of a lock with thumb and forefinger (this is done before carding or combing etc). If the tip is brittle, it should come off quite easily – but only the tip – the rest of the lock should be ok. If it’s just the tips that are weak, you should still be able to spin it to make yarn. Bear in mind you will have to do this with each lock before carding of combing etc or else you’ll have weak spots in your yarn! If the whole lock is brittle, you might want move on and look for another fleece that is of better quality for spinning. On a side note, if you are looking at long curly locks and they happen to have weak tips you can probably still use them for tailspinning them into your yarns or use for doll’s hair etc, regardless of the weak tips and without breaking them off, as the tips won’t be spun into the yarn – the locks will just be dangling for show and no stress will be put on the weak parts, if that makes sense. Just make a sample and see if it holds up to what you want it to do. If in doubt, make a sample!

Staple length and fineness of fiber.
This can depend on your personal ability i.e if you’re a beginner you might find a longer staple easier to eventually spin (once you’ve done all the washing!) I’d say no shorter than the length of your middle finger (obviously depending on how long your fingers are!) I’d say this is a good rule of thumb (haha) for someone a little less experienced with spinning but naturally it will vary with each individual and what you’re comfortable with. Also if you’re a beginner you might want to start with a ‘medium’ of fine-ness in fiber – but if you’re adventurous then good for you! Just bear in mind you have to spin it and wash it aswell! And finer fibers can be more difficult to get accustomed to spinning, and are more likely to felt (when washed and handled a lot) than fibers of a medium fine-ness or course-ness. Ask the seller what this type of fiber is like to work with. They’ll probably know if it’s from their own flock/herd and they will have most likely processed dozens of them! Don’t be afraid to ask questions as most people are generally helpful and like to talk about their products and their animals. Feel the fleece to feel it’s texture – just remember to wash your hands after. I have found that washing fleece doesn’t necessarily make the fiber softer – just cleaner (and sometimes the hand of the fiber can change e.g if it’s over-scoured or what-have-you it can feel rougher and drier than it did before), and fiber from the same breed of animal can vary in softness from fleece to fleece (i.e one animal might produce a nicer fleece than another animal of the same breed). And staple length and quality of fiber will vary if you sample locks from different sections of the (same) fleece. You can plan to use different sections of the fleece for different purposes if necessary once it has all been washed, dried and sorted and you can see what you’ve got to work with.

Has it been skirted and how much waste will there be e.g second cuts?
Skirting gets rid of the really dirty pooey bits – pull these bits off as they can ‘contaminate’ the rest of the fleece – and the bigger bits of vegetable matter i.e sticks and pokey brambles. It may have already been done for you. Shake the fleece to get the second cuts out – these shorter bits are not usually what spinners are looking for as they’re too short for spinning a nice even yarn with good integrity. You can usually buy bags of second cuts for felting and other uses if you need them or you can separate them from your fleece (if there are any) and keep them to one side.

Price:
Figure out your budget and try and stick to it! Things like the quality of fleece and how long it has been off the animal should reflect in the price being asked for it, and if it has been skirted or not etc. Better quality fleeces will command higher prices. Quality of fiber can range from show animal’s fleeces to fiber from animals which have not been raised with hand spinners in mind – therefore they will require much more work – sometimes quite a lot more. If you’re new to processing fleeces, maybe don’t go for a really expensive fleece as you want to allow room for mistakes and confidence building! Don’t forget you can always wash in small batches if this is your first time. Some people who process dozens of fleeces every year still wash their fleeces in small batches sometimes, so don’t think you have to wash the whole thing at once if you don’t want to. Don’t forget that the cleaning products e.g soap/detergents, vinegar and other sundries e.g bucket/s, laundry bags, towels etc you may or may not have to buy will add on top of the price you pay for the actual fleece. Some lucky people have friends that may give them a fleece for free – if that’s the case maybe experiment on that one first to see if fleece processing is your thing!

Yield:
If you’re buying a raw sheep’s fleece, bear in mind that lanolin and vm (vegetable matter) makes up for some of the raw weight when purchased, and when picked, washed, dried and carded the finished weight will be less than it was before processing. Different breeds of sheep e.g Merino sheep can be known to hold more lanolin than some other breeds so the yield may not be as high as a different breed of sheep. Alpaca fleeces have no lanolin but they can be dusty and have some vm so the processed fleece may weigh a bit less than the raw fleece (but I’ve never actually weighed it to find out!) Angora goats have ‘their version of lanolin’ which is called ‘yolk’ and this may affect the weight of fiber when washed and dried (but again I didn’t weigh mine before and after to find out so I’m not really sure on this one).

Chert and canary stain.
Chert, I believe, is kind of like animal dandruff. I’ve had it in a small section of Hebridean sheep’s fleece that I was working with – the fiber was a dark brown so it really showed up – and it was not so easy to pick it out of the fleece. Apparently it is quite common in angora goats (which is where mohair comes from). The dandruff stuff can be difficult to get all of it out so if you want a smooth lace weight yarn, maybe look for a different fleece. You can flick the ends or lash them on the teeth of a carder to get most of the dandruff out but bear in mind this means more work. I couldn’t get it to wash out. The only way I found to tackle it was to try and comb or brush it out when washed and dried, which got a lot of it out but even then there was still some remaining that actually went into the yarn (which is what I didn’t want). I’ve had other fleeces which have had a small amount of it in and I’ve managed to get it all out with pre-carding and the yarn came out fine – with no dandruff! So I guess make a judgement on how much, if any, is in your particular fleece before you buy it. Canary stain is like a wide yellow band that I’ve found on some of the crimpier (white) fleeces I’ve worked with. The yellow colour does not wash out but I haven’t found it to alter the strength of the fiber as I’ve spun it and it didn’t snap but if your fleece has it, check it and make sure it is up to your standard before purchasing, as I myself am not an expert – I learn by experimenting and things can vary from fleece to fleece! Apparently you can dye over it but I haven’t got round to that yet.  It might come out a slightly different shade than the whiter bits of fleece. You could try blending the yellower locks in with some of the whiter locks when it’s washed and dried to get a more even colour to your yarn and to avoid yellow striping. I spun a skein of yarn from the lock from some fleece that had canary stain and it turned out a creamy colour which I quite liked, but then again there wasn’t too much yellow in there to start with.

These are some other factors you may want to consider when choosing a fleece;

End product – is this important?
Or are you buying for the pure pleasure of spinning e.g trying out a new fiber? If you’re buying with view to spin for a project make sure you get enough fiber, factoring in a bit for waste and mistakes! Also find out if the type of fiber you’re purchasing will be a good ‘fit’ for your end product i.e some fibers are known to possess certain qualities that can be used to your advantage in particular situations. E.g A popular fiber at the moment is Blue Faced Leicester wool. It is known to have a lovely drape (i.e drapey rather than springy) so is used, among other things, in lacy openwork shawls and delicate items. Because of it’s softness it is often used in next to skin items like cowls and scarves. It dyes and blends well with other fibers e.g nylon (to add strength) quite well so you often find them in hand-painted tops or roving for people to spin to make their own socks (If you have the tools you can make a roving or batt from the fleece yourself). I’ve seen some beautiful art yarns made with this fiber. BFL seems to work well in a lot of projects doesn’t it? So yeah, if you have a particular project in mind, then have a look around as there is probably a specific fiber/blend of fibers that could work especially well for you! Also don’t be afraid to ask the seller questions about the particular fiber you’re interested in. You can also do a bit of research online if you’ve seen a fleece you really want to try. If you’re buying online you could ask them to send you a small section or buy a small section of the fleece to try out and you can of course try to email them with any questions you may have. And feel the fleece for it’s properties – just don’t forget to wash your hands afterwards!

Blending?
You may want to consider buying fleece with a similar staple length to that of your other fiber that you’re going to be blending it with. E.g I got some superfine alpaca fleece that was a similar staple length to the coarser farm wool i wanted to blend it with to make some chain ply (navajo ply) socks which I’m working on at the moment. I’ll post when I have something to show. Also if you get a fleece which has noticeably lighter and darker sections, you may have to wash the whole fleece (or at least quite a large section of it) before you can start spinning it to blend sections of it to make a more uniform colour (if that’s what you want), and if you want to just wash a bit and spin a bit at a time then maybe choose a more uniform coloured fleece. If you’re not sure, experiment with small samples before using a whole chunk of that fleece! Will you get bored of spinning a whole fleece? Can you use the fiber in different ways e.g can you dye some of it if you get bored of spinning plain white fiber in the same way? Can you try spinning by practicing different techniques e.g worsted and longdraw? Can you combine with other fibers? Make some art batts? Etc.

Do you have the correct tools to wash and prepare the fiber for spinning?
E.g will you need combs for the longer stapled fleeces? Carding equipment for blending etc? Do you have at least a pair of hand carders (if needed)? Some fleeces need more carding than others and the finer wools might need finer toothed carders. I’d like to say – don’t go nuts and buy loads of stuff that you might not even need when you’re first starting out! I’ve found I can prepare a lot of things on 72 tpi carders e.g I even card (and blend) superfine alpaca and angora fleece (sometimes together with medium wools) on my 72 tpi carders – but alpaca and bunny fluff is kind of silky and doesn’t tend to need as much carding as superfine wool as it doesn’t get as tangled and doesn’t have as much vm in it – well, in the fleeces I’ve tried anyway! Try it and see, if possible. (Note: angora and alpaca does not seem to like being blended with anything that still has lanolin in it. It seems to be ok with wool that is washed, dried and lanolin free though. I sometimes spin angora and alpaca without carding). You might have to invest in different tools if your tools aren’t working for you though. Also how are you going to wash your fleece? In the bath tub? in a barrel outside? If you want to wash in laundry bags you can get some after you get the fleece home of course. You may wish to get some solely for washing fleece though. How are you going to dry your fleece? Do you have some old absorbent towels for fleece drying? Again you might want to think about dedicating some towels for your fleece. Also, I found that some fleeces come in ‘one piece’ and are very kind of ‘stuck together’ whereas some fleeces are more easily separated. If you get one of those ‘stuck together’ fleeces, i.e a longwool fleece like the Leicester Longwool I got recently, it may be easier to separate the locks before washing as it seems to be harder (for me) to separate the locks after it’s been washed, and carding can only do so much e.g if it’s felted at the butt ends. And some fleeces need minimal processing – you might just be able to get by with a flick carder if spinning from the lock, or just teasing apart with your fingers. It depends on the fiber and what kind of yarn you’re spinning e.g if you want texture in your yarn, if you want the locks in tact etc. I have found that I could card some long wools (not the ridiculously long ones though!) with hand carders in small amounts i.e as opposed to using combs. I haven’t tried them on a drum carder but apparently the long wools get tangled up on the drum so therefore they say you need combs to process. But I like to just flick the ends of the longer curlier wool locks to make lock-spun/tailspun yarns anyway – I can’t bear to brush the curls out but that’s just me. I find if you have the time and patience, that hand carding (on medium grade hand cards) and hand picking can sometimes be all you need to start with, and anything else can come later when/if you get really into it! You can spin some really nice stuff on a spindle that can cost only a few quid too!

So there you have it. That’s what I’ve learned so far. This post kind of turned out longer than expected – I just kept on finding new stuff to put in! There’s nothing stopping you from seeing a fleece you want to try and just going for it! It will be a learning experience in itself and sometimes that’s the most beneficial and fun way to experience things. I’d say use your own best judgement and don’t spend a fortune as this will be a learning curve and you want to know that fleece processing is for you first before you go and buy a load of stuff. I’d like to say that even though I’ve babbled on for ages that this is not an exhaustive list, and again as I said before, use my information at your own risk – this post is about things I personally consider before choosing fleeces and it’s stuff I’ve come across and learned from personal experience. Everyone’s fiber journey will be different and I don’t pretend to be an expert – just someone who get’s interested in things and wants to share their knowledge to help others! Thanks. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer as best I can. Oh, and have fun with your bundle of fleece!

Posted by ilikecolours at http://www.ilikecolours.wordpress.com
on 11th October 2013