The Fleece Rollercoaster

This year I was really looking forward to producing another batch of Selina - our Shetland 4 ply from local Lancastrian sheep. 

Selina was made from two, women owned flocks; Jess (just 17) and Dianne. The fleeces last year were beautiful; soft with lovely medium length staple, I had it woollen spun at Halifax Spinning mill and immediately booked our spot for this autumn. The yarn was like no Shetland I’d felt before - so soft and I love the dark grey shade - I made a Cactus Tee and a Lento!

Shearing time came and Dianne got in touch to say that sadly (devastatingly!) all her fleeces had ‘cotted’  - they had all felted to the sheep prior to shearing, so came off like a ready made sheep skin, i.e. no good for spinning.  It was a real shame - as well as being a commercial farmer Dianne is a hand spinner and keeps her Shetland for herself, they were so lovely last year with several different shades. (The names given to the natural coloured fleece hark back to an ancient world; Shaela, Moorit, Mooskit, Eesit, Emsket and are beautiful shades from white through to dark grey and brown with oatmeal and stone shades in between, click through here to the Shetland Sheep Society and see a full chart!)

As it stood I knew I had about 15 kilos of Shetland fleece from Jess - I needed to make up a batch with something suitable. My lovely friends up at Ivy Bank in Quernmore had asked if I wanted to have a look at their Texel X which I did - I’d seen a few of the fleeces last year and this seemed perfect timing! Some of the fleeces were really lovely - but the constant damp weather had discoloured some of them and after a conversation with the mill, we weren’t sure whether it would wash out properly - and I’d only just met the minimum quantity. It didn't feel the right time for this batch. Back to the drawing board! 

I hoped that the universe would put a solution my way - and I didn’t have to wait long! A week later I received a phone call from Dusty, a farmer up at Jubilee Tower in Quernmore. He had been in the shop at Christmas last year and reminded me he had plenty of shearling Aberfields (a texel/BFL cross) - did I want to have a look? I definitely did and myself, Andy and the kids all had a drive out! I could see that there was a theme developing this year - and the rain was to blame! Quite a few very matted fleeces but luckily plenty of lovely, ridiculously long stapled ones - you could see the BFL tell-tale crimp but the texel made it quite sturdy. I was pretty excited - but decided this fleece might suit to be worsted spun due to the staple length. After cancelling my spot at Halifax, I made some enquiries with World of Wool spinning mill and before long I had a new plan! Worsted spun Aberfield/Shetland 4 ply!

Hand sorting took quite a while - but it’s fantastic to be able to get so hands on with the fleece, you can get a real sense of the fibre and a connection to it in it’s raw state. There’s something about being covered in lanolin and being pricked with thistles (that had also probably irritated the sheep) that makes what I’m doing even more meaningful to me. I’m standing in a barn, with house martins / swallows swooping in and out with the precision of the red arrows - and handling fleeces from sheep that wander around these fells - and when I'm finally knitting with the yarn, I will remember these things and feel more connected to it. Dusty has farmed here all his life - and so have his ancestors. On the walls are blackboards with notes about his flock, lambs that died, which ewe had twins, and although I know technology is a huge part of farming, being in this barn is so grounding. People, animals and the land.

We went three times to sort through 50k of fleece, Ruth came along with me for the first session and I had a strange feeling she was somehow connected to this area - and asked where her family had farmed. Ruth said it was the other side of Lancaster and we got stuck in to the fleeces - and rather like the videos of women wool waulking in Scotland, sorting fleeces with Ruth with a lovely brew from Fiona on the farm felt great. We chatted, laughed (no singing this time) and came up with ideas for the shop and imagined how this fleece would be as a yarn. 

Later that night Ruth texted to say her mum had lived on the farm next door when she was little! Like the roots of trees, unseen and below ground but working together -  the connections that appear during these projects blow me away!

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Another sorting party with Andy (which qualifies for a date night these days!) who discovered our next line; local, fake goatee beards, and we were done. Just Jess’s Shetland fleeces to sort and a final weigh in! But we were to be hit with another disaster! The majority of the fleeces had also cotted! With the exception of 3 beautiful ones - a light grey that I wanted to keep despite not being able to hand spin. (Yet!) Luckily we could make up the numbers with the Aberfields and added the 3 Shetland to the mix. It would still be a lovely yarn - just not the one we thought we were getting! Whilst at Yarndale I was able to speak to British Wool (previously the Wool Board) who are working with Maria Benjamin and Zoe Fletcher to make their services more accessible for small producers like myself, who want to access British Wool and use their expertise for our products. I asked about the cotting and they thought it likely to do with the rain - spring really was so bad this year, so much rain in the North West - which as the sheep rubbed themselves against fences and trees would have made these fleeces felt.

So after a good few months of changing plans, sorting and getting down with the fleece - it's now in the hands of the wool spinning gods! Well World of Wool and I'm very excited about it. Like waiting for a baby to be born there's not much to do now but think of names! But until I see and feel it I won't be sure - but I have a list! Can you guess what it might be? Answers on a postcard.....

Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon!

Kate xxx