Fiber Weekend
It's raining again so I am especially glad I spent much of my weekend outside working with fleece. I have several pounds that I decided do do myself and it's a job that really need to be done outside because of the fine veg matter and dirt.
The first job that (really) needed doing was a 1 lb bag of Shetland fleece. I bought it from an Ontario eBay seller at the same time I bought the lambswool that was no where near 1 lb. At first grab, it seemed to be fairly nice.
The first job that (really) needed doing was a 1 lb bag of Shetland fleece. I bought it from an Ontario eBay seller at the same time I bought the lambswool that was no where near 1 lb. At first grab, it seemed to be fairly nice.
All I wanted to do was pull out the coarse hair and veg matter and put it into net bags to wash it. I have read that some Shetland is fine enough that the hair doesn't really need to be removed but that certainly wasn't the case with this lot! There are actually 3 grades of fiber in this: very coarse hair, fairly fine hair, and ultra-fine down. I pulled all the coarse and left about half the fine hair. The first few handfuls on top were not bad at all, not too dirty or much veg. Then I pulled out this:
And after pawing through it to find something fit to salvage, I dumped out the rest of the bag:
Maybe it doesn't show too well in the photos but this is TOTAL garbage! It is full of second cuts, ground in veg and dirt. I threw away llama fiber that was cleaner than this! I pulled and sorted for nearly 2 hours and when all was said and done this was all I was able save:
Maybe it doesn't show too well in the photos but this is TOTAL garbage! It is full of second cuts, ground in veg and dirt. I threw away llama fiber that was cleaner than this! I pulled and sorted for nearly 2 hours and when all was said and done this was all I was able save:
I'll eat my hat if there's 4 ounces here. I was totally disgusted! (The white bag is the garbage) To be shorted by almost half on the lambswool and then to get a pound of something only fit to be called skirting that should have been tossed, not sold. If this didn't teach me my lesson about not buying fleece on eBay, nothing will! Cheers all! 
Posted by Gloria Patre at 8/23/2010 5:39 PM 
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: shetland fleece merino cross fleece
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: shetland fleece merino cross fleece
That is a real shame. It's tough to buy fleece online. Most of mine has been lovely but you never know.
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I think it's mostly the poor accountability on eBay. Some sellers think there is a limitless pool of suckers, I mean buyers, out there. If you want to know who the seller was just email me. From now on I'm only buying from sellers I've purchased from before - that means Wooly Wool of the West, or Wild Geese or a couple of Etsy shops I've purchased from before. I'm done buying from strangers!
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Buy Shetland from Laurie's Lambs
laurie@laurieslambscom
She's a doll and has the most beautiful shetlands and Gotland mixes. She does AI on the best Shetland ewes with the Gotland "juice" Marvelous fleeces.
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