Skirting Fleeces

Finally the weather has warmed up outside. It was nearly 90 degrees the past few days. It has given me the opportunity to start skirting the fleeces. Although time consuming I enjoy looking at the individual fleeces. In the barn I only have a couple seconds to glance at each fleece while preparing for the next sheep, but on the skirting table I can spend time with each one.

I have about 7 or 8 of the 30 or so fleeces already skirted. There have been a several pleasant surprises among the bunch. So far I am really excited about the over all quality of the fleeces. I think our fiber enthusiasts will be pleased.

The skirting process for us consists of laying the fleece (sheep side up) on a large screened table. Once on the table I pull out any glaring vegetative matter and soiled areas as well as large changes in fleece grade. This usually consists of going around table and taking off the outside portion of the fleece. I try to leave only the good stuff. If it is borderline then I generally put it into an "ends" sack and use it or sell it at a discount. Once I am finished cleaning the fleece then I roll it up into a ball with the outer side of the fleece to the inside. I generally take a gallon size sample for the sample boxes and weigh the finished fleece.

It has been a family affair as my mom is the general recording secretary noting the fleece qualities and characteristics and my father is the generally the mechanical expert and general supervisor:)

Below are a sampling of the fleeces I have skirted so far.

Raven's fleece was really nice this year. It is a great variegated gray color. It is a very eye appealing and elastic fleece.

This is Moo's first fleece. It is a gorgeous dark brown and white spotted fleece with grey pimming in the white areas. It has a gorgeous crimp and it is wonderfully soft!

We had two white medium fleeces and boy are they both gorgeous! This is from Bobbie, one of our favorites from 2008. I have been spinning some of her 2008 fleece and I am having a lot of fun with it.

Yarn & More Yarn

It is interesting how something simple like raising sheep can develop into such a multi-faceted hobby. Up until a couple of years ago we had a local wool pool where we sold our wool in bulk with other producers from around the region. By blindly following the KISS principle we took our meager returns and some years barely earned enough to pay the shearer.

Today we ship handspinning fleeces coast-to-coast. However we never developed a specialty market for the blackface wool from the wetherdams. When the wool pool ceased to exist a couple of years ago and the blackface wool started piling up in the barn, we decided to act before we were buried in wool. Last fall we took matters into our own hands and skirted some of our fleeces to send to the processor.

We recently received the yarn and it is beautiful!!!

After having all of the natural colored sheep, I am like a kid in a candy store with the dyes. So it didn't take long for me to grab a jar of dye, heat up a pot of water, and drop in a few skeins of yarn. I ended up with a very unique variegated color pattern which I quickly decided to knit into my favorite beanie hat pattern while travelling over spring break. The variegated color combined well with the natural textural variations to create a very homey hat that received rave reviews from many at a fiber festival last weekend. In fact we sold several skeins of yarn that day.

For more information about purchasing a few skeins of yarn for your next project or if you have an idea to share feel free to email me at ktjones@crestviewcable.com.

Kristie Sheep Farm

Home of great Lincolns, Montadales, Romeldales & NCWGA Registered Sheep

Prineville, Oregon