What a weird few weeks it’s been.
So since my last post, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a few farms, meeting a few sheep (along with some donkeys and llamas), skirting a bunch of fleece, and then… I sprained my ankles. Both of them. Long story, and let’s just say I’m really good at injuring myself in new and interesting ways. They’re on the mend now, but they’ve taken about a month to heal.
So that has actually put quite a damper on a bunch of plans, and I’ve spent more time than I care to think about sitting on the couch, elevating and icing said ankles. Which really put the kibosh on all my Tour de Fleece plans.
I haven’t been totally immobile (because seriously that would have driven me crazy), but I haven’t gotten anywhere near as much done for TdF as I had planned. As I write to you, on the very last day of the tour, I’ll be plying up my third skein. The two above I spun in the first two weeks, one is 250 yards and the other is 230. I’m really, really pleased with the final product. I feel like it’s been a long road, but it hasn’t been, really. I only got my Merino/Romney fleece in March, started washing, waited for my combs to come, spent a lot of time prepping, and now I’ve finally looking at my finished (or almost finished work). Four months from start to finish isn’t bad.
I’ve said this frequently over the course of the past few months, but processing my whole fleece and being with it every step of the way as filled me with a satisfaction I’m not sure how to articulate fully.
Meeting your fibre source, and really experiencing the life behind home-prepped fleece has is miles different than going with commercially prepared fibre. And there is a life in self-prepped fleece that you don’t get with something done commercially.
Not to say there isn’t joy in a commercially prepped top (I just got some Manx Loaghtan that I’m super excited to spin), but it certainly is different, and experiencing that and really getting to know my fibre through its life after it’s been shorn is an experience I think any spinner would benefit from.
So is this the end of my Experiments in Raw Fleece series?
No way! I have a ton more fleece in the garage from a variety of different breeds that I’m just itching to get started on. The process of learning with spinning is always on-going, and I imagine these fleeces have much more to teach me. I look forward to listening to what they have to say.