I've been taking advantage of the past few sunny, dry days to sort and wash fleece and wool. One of the advantages of a solar hot water tank is that we have PLENTY of hot water on sunny days to do some major washing. I have washed approximately 8 large batches of alpaca fleece and a small amount of wool in 3 days. The weather is supposed to hold tomorrow, so I hope to add another batch of wool, but at the bare minimum a couple more batches of alpaca. The alpaca is easier to 'skirt' (get rid of the waste fiber, vegetable matter, and separate into quality grades). Wool is much more time consuming since the lanolin makes it harder to get the vegetable matter out, but the luster of the wool makes it worth the extra effort. Our shearer gave me a beautiful fleece filled with color variations which will make an amazing yarn...unfortunately, there are LOTS of shavings and hay caught in the wool. I washed a small sampling of that fleece today and can hardly wait for it to dry so I can card and spin it. My goal for the summer is to clean ALL the fiber stored in the garage and have a good start in carding it so it'll be ready to spin in the cooler months.
Last Wednesday I had my first handcraft class here on the farm. Three little girls and a mom learned how to knit and started working with needle-felting. We plan on meeting again this week to check on their knitting progress before they go on vacation.
The Abundant Blessing Farm dream is slowly coming true!
