Nickerbockers: Charlie - from Fleece to Yarn!

Hello everyone! I have a treat for you today!

I would like to cordially introduce you to this fabulously handsome lad named Charlie.

He is a BFL or Bluefaced Leicester sheep with an absolutely GORGEOUS coloured fleece!

And for any of you wondering out there how exactly we get from this devilishy good-looking fellow to the soft and luscious yarn that you see in the fancy shops, well, I am here to tell you!

Thanks to the hard work and lovely photos of my friend Ky - who knows Charlie personally :)

So the first step is to shear Charlie, or carefully cut off his lovely coat - the really good shearers can do this in one piece! Wow!

And then handwash, or scour it, to remove the dirt and lanolin - the poo bits and really matted fleece have already been skirted, or removed, by the shearer or the shepard/shepardess at this point.

Or you hope so ... but I have been the surprise victim of some poop in my wash water before as it is sneaky and can hide in a fleece unbeknownst to anyone ;P

If you find this prospect completely gross and beyond your stomach tolerance, you can always purchase a fleece that has already been washed, though it may cost a bit more money :)

After drying the fleece (usually on a screen so that air can circulate all around the fleece) we are on to the next step which is carding, or combing, the fleece ...

This is a picture of the batt after it had been hand carded and then put through the drum carder by Ky to get a lovely preparation for the type of spinning that she wanted to do. This was a very time consuming process for her but totally worth the effort when you see the final result!

After spinning two singles, on two separate bobbins - she then plyed them together to get this stunning, soft, squishy and completely yummy yarn that you see pictured below!