Day 1 'The Tour De Fleece 2011' - Preparing 'Local' Fleece for Spinning

This did not look very promising.  I was given this fleece and I do not know what breed of sheep it is from.  It was reared within 10 miles of my house though, so is a nice bit of 'Worcestershire' Wool.

Using my trusty 'Minty Drum Carder':

I have managed to turn it into this:

I am pleasantly surprised.  It looks quite acceptable.  I actually like the natural grey.  I really did not think it would become anything I would enjoy spinning.  I can't wait to give it a go.  I had no idea how it would card and equally I have no idea how it will spin, it is all a mystery to me.  It feels like it is going to need a good  spray of oil, 50% olive oil and 50% water.  It took a couple of hours to card the 50g of wool in the basket which is a small fraction of the fleece.  I would like to card the whole fleece before I start to spin but I think that may be unlikely.  I will probably card a bit and spin a bit, card a bit and spin a bit.  Call me naive, but I am somewhat shocked by what a massive labour dealing with raw fleece is.  Nobody said it was going to be easy I know, but it amazes me that this 'work' was done in the past out of necessity rather than for fun.  After all this someone will end up with a highly prized bobble hat!  I imagine if I did want to make an income I would have to charge £100 a hat, or work for a penny an hour!  We would go hungry if it wasn't for the turnips and raspberries!

     
  Today is Day 1 of 'The Tour De Fleece'.  I have now managed to card just over 100g of fleece to spin.  I have the house to get straight and then I can spin with a clear conscience.  I have more 'Cheese' on the go and I am trying a 'Slowpot/Crockpot' recipe for a 'Carrot Cake'.  It smells delicious.  If it turns out as nice as it smells I will share the recipe.  It is only the second cake recipe I have tried in the Slowpot.  The first was a big hit.  I hope you are having a great weekend, I think it is going to be quite a sunny one here.