Fleece 2 of 7: Corriedale

After putting the Icelandic fleece to bed (so to speak), I began working on a gorgeous Corriedale fleece.  It comes from a ewe named Elinor who lives on a family farm near Duluth, MN.  Her fleece ranges in color from pale to charcoal grey.  There is hardly a speck of VM in the entire fleece and the consistency and softness of the staples could make a lumberjack cry.  You can imagine what it did to a confessed fiber addict. 

The raw (skirted) fleece weighed 6 lbs, 11 ounces.  I'm still using my dining table with a plastic tablecloth as my fleece sorting station:

I picked out several staples to measure and compare colors.  The staples average 5 inches long, with some of the staples along the edges of the fleece around 4 1/2 inches long: 

I've sorted out a portion of the flece to wash, and the rest will be put into my raw storage with vacuum-packed plastic storage bags.  It is positively dreamy to work with this fleece.  Simply beautiful fiber.