Choosing the Perfect Fleece For Your Project

Do you plan a project or do you buy a fleece on impulse to use for something later on? Either way, selecting the right fleece for the project will make the task easier and enjoyable.

With sheep fleece there are many breeds to choose from. These notes are brief dot points to think about when choosing a fleece.

Good choices for beginners, novices, or “blob” spinning are fleeces with good staple length, fairly open, bold crimp and soft handle. These are usually from breeds such as Corriedale, Border Leicester/Merino Cross, Cross breds that don’t have any Downs breed in them
For superfine spinning, with lace weight tendencies choose Merino or very fine Polwarth (Wendy Dennis is the Queen of this type of wool; it's fabulous). Be careful with Merino fleece though. For handspinning for a shawl, you only need about 250grams, buying a whole fleece will represent a huge amount of work
For socks, see if you can find a fleece from a lamb that has a Downs breed dad. These fleeces are spongy, but have great elasticity, and are durable
Corriedale is great for jumpers and vests—a merino cross can add further softness for garments that contact the skin

When looking at a fleece, consider the below points.

Is it the right colour, does it look fresh and appealing?
Can you see a crimp in the fleece across most of it? All sheep fleece has crimp (except for the carpet wools): the higher the number of crimps per inch, the more twists per inch that needs to be inserted, when spinning, which will determine the project to some extent. If there is no crimp, then it indicates that the sheep may be old, (referred to as “doggy”), or its breeding poor. Crimp seems to be impacted by the seasons as well. My sheep vary from year to year, but good breeding inserts crimp every year. The crimp will vary across the fleece as well, with the best even crimp in the shoulder areas and the broadest (or no) crimp down towards the back legs. Try and get a fleece that has crimp across it that doesn’t vary too much. Be prepared to pay more for a fleece that has an even crimp across the whole fleece
Put you hands into the fleece, does it feel dry, or well nourished? You don’t want something that is too greasy either, otherwise it is difficult to wash and store (sets like concrete). What you should be looking for is a soft feel that doesn’t leave you hands slick with grease. If the fleece is dry or unyielding then it’s probably been stored for too long, or off a poor sheep
Check for tenderness. Remove a small staple about the thickness of a pencil from the fleece (ask the owner first). Grasp at both ends and apply tension. If the fleece is stretchy then it will yield and you can hear individual fibres break. A stretchy fleece will become a tender fleece in storage. If it’s tender it will break along a line, which indicates a change in diet or stress (lambing, worms or disease). Bear in mind that even a good fleece will break if you pull it hard enough, so be reasonable. Also a fleece can be tender in parts. The back line can often go tender if the density of the fleece is low and allows the fleece along the back to be exposed to the sun and weather
Is the fleece long enough for your intended project? Shorter fleeces make great handcarding fleeces, longer fleeces are better combed. Make sure there aren’t too many second cuts in the fleece
Is the fleece well skirted? You should not find dags, urnine stain, or leg and wig pieces in the bag. Don’t buy a fleece that has these in them without negotiation as it is extra weight and contaminents that you have to pay for and deal with. Some sweats sneak in, but other bits shouldn’t be there at all
Vegetable Matter, VM in industry-speak. This should be NIL. My recommendation is not to buy a fleece that is full of seeds, no matter how pretty it is. The time wasted picking out seeds is just not worth it
Finally there is the price. My feeling on this is that I am fully aware of the time needed to spin a fleece. However I am also aware of the care that is needed to produce a fleece that is worthy of that time. So with a foot in both camps, I would suggest that if the fleece is beautiful, soft, clean and sound then it is deserving of a price that reflects that, everything else that doesn’t quite make that same grade should range down from that high point. Colour is also an issue

Heather Dunn
Phone: (02) 6337 5774

Shop online at www.braesidealpacas.com.au