Friday, March 16, 2012

Fleece 1 of 7: Icelandic is finished!

I have finished vacuum packing all remaining raw fiber from my very pretty Icelandic fleece.  The washed fiber has been drying for a couple of days.  I err on the paranoid side when it comes to drying fiber - I don't want to store it while there is any chance of dampness that could lead to mold or rot in the fiber.  So once it feels dry, I keep it on the drying rack for another day to make sure it is really dry.

Here is the washed Icelandic wool:



The washed wool is really lovely - no matting or felting of the fibers, no permanent stains, and it should be very enjoyable to comb or card this fiber for spinning. 

I washed all of the darker fibers of the fleece, so only oatmeal colored fiber is in raw storage.  I love knowing that I can grab a handful of this wool and work with it whenever I want.  My plan is to sample a few different processing and spinning methods with it.  I would like to separate the tog and thel, as well as create a combined preparation of them.  And then I will spin each of the three preps to see what range of yarns I can make from the fleece and find out what appeals most to me.

No comments:

Post a Comment