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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Fleece from the Farm

I caught up with Deb and Clive Shilabeer yesterday afternoon. Here's why:
It's the Suffolk Downs lambs fleece I've been looking forward to. They brought it over from South Australia for me. I now have 6 kg in the back of my car. Only half of that is for me. The other half is for my friend O, who taught me woollen spinning and sounded just as excited as I felt when I told her about the fleeces. And I do have more than enough to share with any of my fellow spinners who would like to have a go.

Meeting up with Deb and Clive to pick up the fleeces was great. Much better than getting fleece in the mail. I got to hear about the welcome rain they've had since I met them in July. I got to hear about their big win--Grand Champion Ram at the Adelaide Show. I got to tell them about the Tulip Festival. They've driven 8 hours from SA to spend a day at the Tulip Festival--there's something about country people and their sense of distance! They spent most of last week shearing and needed a few days off. I got to talk about my spinning and promised to show them some results at next year's Bendigo Show. The fleece means even more to me now that I have that connection with its origins. Now, to wash it, card it and get spinning!

3 comments:

Dee said...

i look forward to seeing the spun results. will you please put an example of both styles of fleece and the spinning results for visual explanation to those of us who don't quite get it and whatit all means? :)
what i do get is your excitement and that i really like, but i am still perplexed about it all. help?

Knitspingirl said...

Oooo! Oooo!
New fleeces!
They look yummy to spin too (even though I must admit I'm not a convert to woollen spinning - sorry O)

Chiara Z said...

You won't like them if you're spinning worsted. They're genuinely short and springy. I'll see how I go with it, but it's nice to have the real thing.