How to Prepare your Fibre

Preparing your fleece and fibre will result in a better end product and will save you money. Here are some suggestions on how to prepare your fibre and also what to avoid. (see below)

 

Please make sure your fibre is skirted and sorted before you bring it to the mill. We will not be doing excessive skirting any more. We will return fibre if it is not skirted.

Old spring bed frames work well as a skirting table too!

Old spring bed frames work well as a skirting table too!

Skirt Your Fibre

After shearing and before processing lay your fleece out on a flat surface (preferably mesh or an old bed frame so dirt can fall through) discard any belly or neck fibre (these are the most dirty) remove any large dung tags or matted areas, britch wool and pull out as much obvious veggie matter (vm) as you can.

It is best to store wool dry and in a breathable bag until you are ready to skirt, sort and process. Keep the fibre in a dry/secure place where rodents and pests cannot damage the fibre.

These parts of your fibre/fleece can be discarded, they work great in the garden as mulch or added to your compost pile, but they won’t do well in your yarn or roving.

These parts of your fibre/fleece can be discarded, they work great in the garden as mulch or added to your compost pile, but they won’t do well in your yarn or roving.

What to Avoid

  • heavily soiled areas (often the belly, the neck, the leg wool etc)

  • burrs, seed heads, thistles

  • other contaminants such as twine, thread and feed

We also check fibre for breaks and weakness, this will affect the end product of your fibre. To check for this yourself take a small amount of fibre and gently pull the top and bottom apart and listen for ‘crackling’ in the fibres.

staple length

staple length

Staple Length and Second Cuts

At LWH mill we cannot process staple lengths shorter than 2.5” if the staple length is longer than 6.5” we can make lopi-style (singly ply) yarn, and if the staple is longer than 8.5” we cannot process it all.

Removing second cuts from your fibre will help with a uniform product.

Please print out the forms and fill them out with as much information as you can. Package your skirted fleeces in CLEAR plastic bags with the labels clearly visible. We will NOT accept fibre in black garbage bags.