freemotion
Food Guru
I got a fleece! I got a fleece!!!!!Thanks to a very kind and thoughtful person here on ss, a box arrived....it was on the counter when I came home yesterday.
I kept asking....what's that smell????
Then I opened the box....and.... It was tightly tied up in a clear plastic bag, looking so small and forlorn. It would have to wait, as it was a busy day here on Thursday.Several times, I hunted the kitchen for "that smell...." Then I remembered the fleece. And the bag was sealed so tightly....what was that thing going to smell like when I opened it? Yikes!
Tonight, I decided I needed some brainless tube watching, and set up the card table and my portable OttLite and a trash can. I opened the bag and that forlorn little fleece explanded! And it smelled just fine, reminiscent of cows. Mmmm..... As I explored the new textures of raw wool for the first time, the smell got better and better. Before long, I wondered that I ever considered it unpleasant in any way. Amazing how a little positive association can change one's perspective.
I spent two hours picking straw and hay and a ladybug wing out of the fleece, enjoying the different textures that came through my fingers. It is amazing how much fleece was packed into that tiny box! I got maybe 80% of it picked clean before I had to pack it up for the night. I can't wait to work on it tomorrow night, and then get it cleaned and ready for carding. Being a newbie, I really don't know how clean it needs to be.
At first I thought I'd wash it with hot water and shampoo to remove the lanolin and get it super clean....that smell.....but now I am thinking I will take a gentler approach to it, as I really like the smell now and can always wash it thoroughly later.....right? I want to try spinning it with the grease intact, for the first attempt, anyways.
I've come to the conclusion that the only reason I thought it smelled wrong in any way was that it was on the kitchen counter, in my food prep area, and my brain couldn't reconcile the smell of sheep when I reached into my cupboard for tea!
Especially since I didn't know it was there. We were moving my folks from our house into their new apartment, and there were boxes all over the place. I didn't notice it. It really is lovely, and I can't wait to get back to it. I even remembered to take some pictures, which will have to wait for dh to download.
Pick it clean enough so you aren't spinning hay into your yarn. Do you have a drop spindle or a wheel? I have a wheel, but I haven't had a place for it since we moved here 7 years ago, so I sit in the living room in front of the TV and use the drop spindle. I card a big basket of roving and just spin.
Of course, I haven't finished my brown sheep fleece or my white sheep fleece yet...
