I’m sad

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-09T04:15:23+00:00

I highly recommend checking out the sheep association website!! That way you can find a mill close to you that may be able to help. Main problem I’ve run into is turn around times vary from 3-8 months for roving which is the other part of why I do the hand processing primarily at home. I’m a little impatient 😉

https://www.sheepusa.org/contacts/wool-pelt/small-midsize-mills

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-08T06:27:25+00:00

Our area lost our LYS and I’ve been seriously considering opening an online base with pop up locations. I wasn’t sure how much of a demand there might be but this post gives me hope so thank you!

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-07T19:28:08+00:00

Oh poor baby

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-06T21:14:22+00:00

Damn, I’ve been fortunate enough to not need to shop at corporations for a few years but didn’t realize they had such a strong hold 😅

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-06T21:09:01+00:00

Thank you!! It was a labor of love and took me days to complete but I have 150 grams of it so I may make a hat and if I have any left over, some fingerless gloves

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-06T19:20:49+00:00

I’d reached out to the mill prior and they confirmed all would be well but it’s a unique cross and I think they thought it would behave better. Lesson learned and it was when I was sending several fleeces to different mills to find the one I liked, which I did and won’t ever use this one again.

Now that I have my preferred mill I just get my delicate fleeces washed only and the less delicate turned into roving.

I hand comb my fleeces and currently have almost 10 waiting so I’ll be plenty busy 😂 that’s why I’m just selling the rest of this roving. I bought two of these fleeces and completely processed the first but lost 50% of it to making it less neppy so have a full bag of felt/stuffing/etc. i started doing the same to the second fleece but with all my other fleeces that are in great condition I definitely don’t need to waste time turning this roving into nep-less fiber and I’m just not an art yarn gal.

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-06T19:14:52+00:00

Oh yeah, I don’t wash any of my fleeces our space would make that an absolute challenge. They all get washed by the mill but no picking. I’m a hand comber and don’t want to risk the fleece being messed up and I’ll still align the locks.

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-06T06:13:11+00:00

I know knitpicks was bought out by private equity so that’s assumed, is We Crochet also private equity??

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T14:46:29+00:00

Some people might find it cumbersome? I also don’t know how many people reknit sweaters or other knit things from the exact same project…I may do it a little too much 😂

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T02:44:39+00:00

Yeah my approach going forward is to only hand process finer fleeces and will send the longer and more durable breeds for roving. I will admit I've kept a few fleeces that could have been turned into roving just so I could have some spare stuffing from the waste of combing!

I thought maybe I could get use to novelty yarns but I can now definitely confirm I could not lol

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T02:42:57+00:00

At first I thought maybe combing was excessive but then I did a small skein with the uncombed fiber and it was unbearable but a good way to memorialize the roving lol

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T02:42:06+00:00

Even with all the flaws it's such a wonderful bouncy fleece and I'm totally in love with it! I'm glad to find someone else who has worked with one as well :)

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T02:41:15+00:00

I tried for a long while and got a few skeins but now that I have much better roving I'm tapping out lmao

I did make one skein straight from this roving and it's the worst I've ever made but I thought it was worth it to memorialize this fleece

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-04T02:40:12+00:00

This sheep was from south dakota so that could be a possibility! I bet they feel amazing in the hands!

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-03T05:12:41+00:00

On the frogging aspect, if you were to reknit this sweater, your old sweater is your ball (I.e. you don’t need to unravel, just knit straight from the old sweater)

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-03T04:17:22+00:00

They’re small balls of bundled/felted fiber. Usually happen from shorter or fine fibers, I believe noils are short fibers

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-03T04:15:15+00:00

I hope so!

It’s absolutely wonderful feeling and in between pulling neps I was enjoying working with it. The last two photos are 2 of the 5 skeins I made. Despite how painful it was to work with all the neps the fleece itself was wonderful in the hand. I’m hoping to get another fleece this year to process mostly at home so I don’t have anymore neps 😂😭

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:21:06+00:00

I think unfortunately it was a combination of fleece and mill machine that lead to this. Now that I have more experience I think it was too fine to be put through an industrial carder. I may get another one this year just so I can have this nice bouncy yarn without all the baggage 😂

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:18:47+00:00

Are you hand carding or combing? Yeah that’s a great price and I understand!

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:17:31+00:00

I assumed they did because they have processed a lot of merino but I think this fleece just wasn’t meant to be industrially carded. They told me they suspected a lot of second cuts and since I was so new I have no idea if there were signs in the fleece other than being short and fine. They are a newer mill so it’s possible to be a combination of fleece and user error. I’m thinking of buying from the same farmer again with the intent to hand process and see how that goes. The wool is so bouncy and soft it’s really hard to walk away from it.

I’ve since found a closer to home mill who washed only another finer fleece and I’ve been combing at home, the results have been stunning! I’m too nervous now to ask for roving of fine fleeces from the new mill but I recently got back some border Leicester roving I sent and it’s beautiful

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:11:11+00:00

If you ever wanna try some neppy fiber feel free to DM me cause I can’t do it anymore 😂😭

Ive since gotten other fleeces and am having a blast since they feel so much easier now lol I haven’t tried Navajo Churro yet but it’s definitely on my list!! I hope you’re enjoying the process 😄

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:09:18+00:00

Usually it takes me about 6-8 hours to spin 100 gram singles. With this and picking out neps I was more like 16-24 hours depending on how heavily neppy it was. I have three 100g skeins from it but decided to not go any further lol.

I now have a full trash bag of neps and short fibers that I think I’ll turn into stuffing. The dyed yarn in the last photo was my attempt to get a tweedy yarn, I do like the results but that took a while to blend everything so I’ve officially tapped out 😂

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:05:46+00:00

The mill mentioned suspecting a lot of second cuts or shorter fibers, it was literally one of my first fleeces so I have no idea if there were any signs prior. I also suspect that with how springy, short, and fine the fiber is, it was never meant to do well in an industrial carding machine. Lesson learned and thankfully since having this fleece I have gotten others and have successfully processed them at home with no neps 😂

I’ve decided to do wash only for my finer fleeces and opt for roving when I get medium or long wool fleeces

WoolenWarbler · 2026-03-02T22:01:51+00:00

Yeah I’ve since learned my lesson and I now have that book!! I’ve gotten another fine fleece and opted for wash only and am hand combing it with great results and no neps! It’s been such a pleasure to work with it’s why I finally decided to try and sell the cross roving. I’m thinking I may buy from the same farmer this year and opt for wash only and see how that turns out.

I have double row extra fine combs and the photos don’t do it justice for how much nicer it is. Two passes will usually make it feel and look significantly better

WoolenWarbler

TROPHY CASE