Washing and Dyeing Jacob Fleece.

This is a Jacob fleece spread out for sorting. The top is the head end and the back legs are at the bottom of the picture. You will just have to trust me on this if you can't see it . It does take some practise to see the parts of a fleece. The dog is optional.

                                                                                                                                                            

                        

I have divided the fleece up into manageable sections. Trying to get course, soft and medium piles.

I have put a whole fleece in the bath but I don't recommend it. You will not have the use of your bath for days because of all the rinsing, and wet wool is very heavy, small bins are much easier to manage.

The fleece is hung on a fence to drip most of the water out in between rinses and put through a small stand alone spin dryer after the last rinse. Don't use your washing machine you will break it!

I had two dye baths left over from other projects. Cochineal, pink and Fustic, yellow. I hate to waste anything so I thought I would see what the Jacob would dye like and I love the result. From past experience I know that they will spin up to a lovely tweed effect in the different colours. Jacob also dyes well in indigo.

1st day introdution.

This is day one of this blog so here is a little bit about myself.

I live in a small village in lovely countryside, although we are only forty minutes from London(England). I have always been a country girl and gain lots of inspiration from the natural world. Hand spinning and dyeing are my great passions.I opened my Etsy shop a few months ago and would love to be able to earn a living from my work but have to work part time for the moment. It is over thirty years since I first learned to spin and have I found plenty of ways to pass on my skills. Teaching, taking workshops and giving talks to all sorts of groups. But there always seems to be new things to learn as I go along.

Other passions are my dogs, horses and rabbits. You will be hearing about these from time to time as they often are connected with my work, especially the rabbits. They are Angoras, and I love to spin angora it is hard to beat on softness. I hope you like the picture of my lovely Melody. How could you not!

Gardening is another hobby, I grow a lot of the plants that I dye with and will be explaining how to do this from time to time, as well as how to use them.

I'm afraid I am a multi project person. There are at least two or three things in my work box at any one time. There have been as many as five before now. I try to be a bit disciplined and get things finished. Remembering that I am trying to run a business is hard when I am enjoying myself so much. It never feels like work. All this means that I will have plenty of things to shear with you as I go along.

Please shear your projects with me, any comments, helpful hints, etc will be welcome. We can all learn from each other.

Bye for now, Gilly.