The Joy and Stink of Skirting!

In the end we see the reality of the finished product; the beginning is merely a dream.

This has been my belief in my love of life for many years now.  Being able to share that through my love of fiber arts brings me a joy and peace in this world of chaos and stress.  I hope that I can inspire others to grow through experience, to not be afraid to try new things and to reach out to learn from one another.

I look forward to sharing my continuing path through my intention of creations or through those incidental or accidental wonders that sometimes happen. 

So, with that being said...  

I was so lucky to receive 2 wonderful boxes of unskirted Shetland fleece a couple weeks ago.  My niece lives in upstate NY and had her 2 Shetlands sheared, her first experience with this.  So, of course I volunteered to skirt, wash, pick, card, spin and knit!  Well, when the boxes arrived I was beginning to wonder if I was out of my mind offering to skirt! 

My house quickly smelled like, well, let's not go there.  I moved the fleeces to the garage and spread them onto a screen balanced on the back of my car.  Since we are deep into pollen season, gracing everything in sight with bright yellow pollen, I had to do this inside.  

Spreading it out to be able to identify the britch from the neck from the belly was a challenge since it was so mushed together from shipping.  But, after a bit of work the birds were getting a large bag of pickings for their spring nests!

The remaining fleece went into the house for it's wash.  Using Dawn and good hot water I soaked the fleece for 30 minutes.  I didn't want to remove all of the lanolin so only used a small amount of Dawn (10 squirts for my sink sized bucket).  

After 2 hot water rinses (no agitation. mind you!) I placed the fleece on old beach towels, rolled them up and pressed them to get the extra water out.  Then off to the screen to dry!  

And here were a couple of the locks!   It is so easy to see the double coat of the Shetland.  The white undercoat is SO soft. 

This will be wonderful to spin despite the hours of prep that it took.   I have asked my niece to please, please, please COAT the sheep to help keep it cleaner.  Hoping next years fleece won't be as much work!

Off to the wheel!