Fibery Goodness

I had such a wonderful day on Monday! I visited with Abi at High Prairie Fibers to learn all about wool processing and to take some fleeces that I had purchased from someone who owns a vineyard but they don't do anything with their fleece. At first, I was just going to take a little of it, but after I started looking through the colors they had, it was just too tempting, so I bought it all - crazy madwoman that I am!

To give you an idea of the amount of fleece, here is a picture of a normal paper towel roll sitting on top of the bag of fleece. We had already opened the main bag and taken some out, so the white bags are also garbage bags all full of fleece. I'm telling you, this was a LOT of fleece!

I am so glad I did buy it all, because there were some delightful fleeces in there! Some light oatmeal color with crimpy bits!

Some dark fleeces with sun-bleached tips!

Some grey or salt-and-pepper fleeces too!

There were a few that were not as good, but they can be used for felting fiber.

One of the best things about my trip was that Corinne from Crosswinds Farm was there on the same day! It was so much fun to meet another blogger whose blog I read often. She has lovely Shetland sheep. I got to feel all the fleece she brought, and see all the different qualities on her sheep's fleece too, so it was even more education for me! Corinne and Abi were so friendly and helpful and made me feel like I wasn't a crazy madwoman after all because they were just like me! We sat around feeling fleece, testing crimp to see if it went "ping" and whispering about the loveliness of certain fleeces (it's a rule, you have to whisper, otherwise you might disturb the fleece).

All this made me even more anxious for our own shearing day to arrive. We will have 9 sheep's fleeces, 6 llama fleeces and 4 angora goat fleeces! Wow, a folly of fleece!

Oh, by the way, Corinne is trying to convince me to acquire a Shetland sheep, or two. It's working!

Abi and her husband also run the Iowa Parrot Rescue! We had a simply wonderful visit with the parrots. They have a beautiful facility and the parrots get a lot of love and attention. I was lucky enough to have a macaw sit on my shoulder! It was quite remarkable.

Isobelle the angora goat says:
"Oh please, you can shear me anytime, it's getting warm out!"