Learning to skirt wool today and a couple of homestead goodness

I got my first lesson in skirting wool. The folks at Rocky Mountain Fleece Factory are wonderful and will give skirting lessons for free. They are so kind and share their knowledge .  I can't wait to take other classes. 

I brought my wool from a Romeldale ram lamb we raised and a bag of alpaca from someone else.

Rule #1 never store your fleece in black bag... you can't see if there are any moths in it.  To check you would need to take the whole thing out and possibly contaminate other wool. 

Wait... go back... I did get a chicken out for tomorrow's dinner to thaw. Cool part of homesteading … freezer full of chickens, turkeys, chicken broth, lamb and so many veggie and fruit (oh and tons of Dude's ice cream!) 

Okay back to the wool... I was actually proud of our first ever wool. It had good staple and not as dirty as I thought. There was the usual vegetation and poopy bit which I did remove (yes, I saved it for the garden (the wool bits not the poop)...which it is great for... holds water and is biodegradable. 

We did skirt the alpaca which was easier to work with (it's in the background) but it was a bit dry , as in the way the fleece snapped. The wool was better but greasy. I will be making the skirting table in the near future. 

We learned a lot … about roving....

The carding MONSTER machine. 

This was a tiny amount of fleece waiting to be worked for customers. 

Back to my lamb... separate, sort and get the dirt out. 

Here is some of my alpaca I separated.  I will be working on it all this weekend at home. 

Learning about different sizes, crimp, and thickness of staples and why you need to know... what are you making? Would this wool be suitable for it? Would it be better for felting or a sweater off the skin vs wearing it next to the skin.  My lamb's wool rated at a number 2 ...fine. The ratings are 1 to 6.

A tumbler for the alpaca, removing dirt ... it would be fruitless to use lamb fleece in here since it would just keep falling off and sticking back on to itself. 

Washing stations... why it is important to wash and rinse at the same hot temperature 120* or it will felt and what you can do if the temp goes down. 

Drying racks. 

Roping to make rugs... wool vs suri … making a rug for your morning rising feet or the backdoor? 

Mega spinner!

Roving being spun. 

A huge felter. 

It was the bright spot in my day (my car was in the shop and they were giving me a hard time!)

Back to the homestead...

We need a baby shower!!! Momma Guinea was off the eggs when I got home. I ran over to check on them and the eggs were moving!  They have tiny holes in them. We will have chicks by morning!

peace