The weather was gr-r-r-eat, the company was too...and I came home with about 5 lb. of Shetland fleece, too boot. Here are the photos:
These wee guys (gals?) were excited to be watching the action in the shearing area. I think they're Cotswolds, or CotswoldXes. Aren't they cute?!


Here's my buddy, B, getting ready to teach me how to 'skirt' a fleece. This means we're going to go around it, pulling off and throwing away the 'nasty bits' -- dirt, poop etc. -- that collect around the butt, legs etc. This is done prior to the fleece being weight and priced, so that the buyer doesn't pay for this waste.

All hands on deck as fleece is checked for any last bit of unwanted materials.


These sheep were shorn the day before we got there. Although the sun was warm, I thought they looked pretty disgruntled in there 'nekked' state! LOL!

There are alpaca and lamas on the farm, too. The black and white one seemed to ask, "You lookin' at me?!"

Here's the smaller of my two fleece, about 1.5 lbs, from a fellow named 'Ulrick'. He's an 'intermediate' Shetland. Very pretty!

My goal is to have at least some of the fleece ready to take to the Twisted Sisters' retreat in mid-June, so I can learn to used the drum carder with it. Next year, I'd like to be ready to spin a slightly trickier fleece -- such as the shorter-haired South African Meat Merino (SAMS). It's going to be a real learning curve -- but fun -- and that's not a ba-a-a-ad combination! ;-)
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