From fleece to yarn...

A few months ago, our lovely postman arrived with a large cardboard box full of Lonk and White Faced Woodland fleece. After picking through the poopy bits it was all placed in buckets and washed, rinsed, then set to dry in the garden.

Next came the picking through and carding. I gave the whole lot a quick roll through my drum carder to get the fibres heading in the same direction, then went through with my hand carders (this removes all the vegetable matter and bits of chuff that haven't been removed in the wash/rinse process). A few blisters later, it was ready for a final roll through my drum carder again before spinning and needle felting.

Mabel the spinning wheel is now having a well-earned rest after she'd produced a box of beautiful DK Lonk skeins.

The White Faced Woodland fleece has been used to create 6 needle felted sheep, with a small amount of alpaca fleece used to create their horns.

Once I've finished spinning the remaining White Faced Woodland, the whole lot will be packaged up and returned to the farm in Hebden Bridge where it began it's journey.

I'm hoping we'll be able to resume weekly crochet and spinning group meetings soon and am busy working on a cow wreath similar to the sheep version

Happy crafting!

Claire