{"id":5515,"date":"2020-11-14T08:08:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T07:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=5515"},"modified":"2020-11-14T08:08:12","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T07:08:12","slug":"finding-a-fleece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/finding-a-fleece\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a fleece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many spinners ask me where I find the fleeces I work with. I live just outside the Stockholm city center and there aren’t many flocks around here. Today I will share with you how I found my first fleeces and give you a few tips of what you can do in your pursuit of finding a fleece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first started spinning I took a spinning class twice a month at a city sheep farm. I bought my first fleece on the first spinning lesson. After that I have bought several fleeces from the farm. Visitors can buy fleece in the sheep barn all year round. The head shepherdess basically know all the sheep by smelling it. The fleeces come individually packed in paper bags with the sheep’s name on it. I can reach the farm with the commuter train and investigate the fleece on the hoof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But finding a fleece isn’t always easy. Many people don’t have sheep close to them and don’t know where to start. Some are also worried that they will get bad fleece. In this post I won’t go into what to look for in a fleece, but with the methods I use I make sure, or as sure as I can, that I find the people who can provide good quality fleece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soul behind the fleece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I look for a fleece I try to stay as close to the source as I can. Preferably on a level of knowing the name of the sheep. I keep a list of shepherdesses and I always look for potential additions to that list. You can see it as sort of a fleece networking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key element for me is connecting with sheep owners. Having a connection with a shepherdess gives me an understanding of their work and the day-to-day lives of the sheep. I try to find the soul behind the fleece. Do the shepherdesses represent what I want from a fleece? In the conversation I also get to explain what I look for as a spinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to a breed<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One example is Lena. She is a Gute shepherdess, spinning teacher and weaver and has been a judge at many spinning competitions. I didn’t know much about Gute sheep<\/a>, but since I know her work I knew that there must be something in the Gute fleece that attracts her as a spinner. I knew that she would be able to get me a Gute fleece of high quality. And I was right, I got a lovely Gute fleece that I have used for many classes to show the diversity of a primitive breed. And through that many of my students have grown fond of the breed too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gute
Gute wool from one individual. The sheep has long and strong overcoat, fine undercoat and kemp over the whole body, but to varying degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the Gute case I didn’t know much about the Gute breed, but I knew about Lena and her knowledge and experience. That was enough for me to try the breed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with knowledge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another example is Ann who has a small flock of Rya sheep. She is also one of the founders of a Swedish online spinning forum and very generous with her knowledge and encouragement. She is also a very experienced spinner. Someone posted a picture of Ann’s sheep and I knew I wanted to try the wool from her sheep. I had a few rya fleeces before, but I really wanted to try the fleece from Ann’s sheep since she knew so much about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Four
Fleece samples from the rya ewes Alva, Lina and Beppelina and Bertil the ram. I chose Beppelina (bottom left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ann sent me very generous samples of fleece from her four sheep and I got to pick the one I preferred, which wasn’t easy \u2013 they were all lovely. I had follow-up questions and Ann, with her long experience with fiber animals, could give me very detailed descriptions of her line of the breed and the individual sheep in her flock. She also sent me pictures of the sheep. I picked one and she sent me the rest of that fleece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handling the fleece from Ann’s flock has taught me a lot of the diversity within a breed, especially since rya is one of the three Swedish breeds that are bred for the wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleece feedback: \u00c5sen fleece<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My third example here is Ylva. I met her on the Fleece championships of 2019. As far as I know she didn’t have a competing fleece, but she was at the event selling her \u00c5sen fleeces. I talked to her for a bit, asked her about the breed that I didn’t know very much about. I ended up buying one of her fleeces. In the fleece bag was a piece of paper with carefully made notes of the number of the sheep, when she was born, when she was shorn, some of the characteristics of the fleece and the weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spun a lovely skein from the \u00c5sen fleece and sent to Sara Wolf<\/a> for the book Knit (spin) Sweden<\/a>. Then I brought the fleece to one of my classes. The first fleece we ran out of was Ylva’s \u00c5sen fleece. All the students loved carding and spinning the \u00c5sen wool. It was open and airy and had just the right combination of fluffy undercoat and strong outercoat to make the draft nice and slow. Of course I told Ylva about this and she was very pleased that we had enjoyed the fleece from her sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lovely
Lovely \u00c5sen wool from an experienced shepherdess.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More \u00c5sen fleece<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I met Ylva at another fleece event and bought a very fine \u00c5sen fleece from her, totally different from the first fleece I bought. I hadn’t planned on buying \u00c5sen fleece, but since I knew she was serious about wool quality I was more than happy to buy from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fleece I got had long white locks with black tips. When I got home I discovered that the tips broke in the join between the black tips and the white growth when I tugged the staples lightly. The fibers beneath the breakage was still soft and lovely. Since I had talked to Ylva I knew she was very dedicated and serious about the wool quality of her sheep. I knew this must have been an unlucky exception in her flock. I asked her what she thought was the reason behind the breakage in the tips. She told me that the lamb had been fathered by a new ram that obviously had some bad fleece genes. She was very grateful for my feedback and decided not to use that lamb for further breeding (the ram had already moved on to greener pastures).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setbacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have bought a lot of fleece through the years and I figure I have quite a good sense of what to look for. But I do make mistakes. The good thing about that is that I learn a lot from them. Not so much due to bad quality, but in realizing that this wasn’t for me. Most of the mistakes have actually been pre-processed wool \u2013 quite early I learned that I want to get to know the wool from the start, from that dirty, poopy newly shorn fleece. It has also been about a breed that I didn’t really get along with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleece events<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A wonderful opportunity for finding a fleece is a fleece event, like a fleece competition, a wool fair or a wool festival. One of the most important fleece shows for me is the Swedish fleece championships. At this event the visitors can look at and fondle all the fleeces that have entered the competition, watch the prize ceremony and take part in the fleece auction afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Over 50 fleeces competed in the 2019 fleece championships!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the visitors are shepherdesses that either sell their fleeces at the event and\/or have one or more fleeces in the competition. I do several things at this kind of event to find fleeces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n