From the Pastures: True colors revealed

Finally seeing a lot of tractors in the fields here in northern Illinois. Spring has been so wet and cold. The fields took more time than normal to dry out. I always get anxious this time of year for warm, sunny weather so I can plant my garden. My grandson has gardening as a 4-H project. He is planning which vegetables he wants to plant. He is really interested and wants to grow a lot of different vegetables.

The barn is really quiet this year. It is the first year in a long time that there have not been any lambs. I miss seeing the lambs jumping around, but I do not miss all the work getting them going at first. My flock is a nice size now to provide wool for the mill.

We still have some Scottish Blackface and a few different colors of Shetlands. Each breed has a different type of wool. The Scottish Blackface is very white and dyes nicely. It is a little coarser, but makes great batts. I have dyed it in several different colors and then combined these colors to make really interesting batts. Needle felting brings the fibers together and makes the batts stronger. The colored needle-felted batts are popular with fiber artists. I leave most of the Shetland wool in its natural color. It spins to really nice yarn.

In April, I participated in a fiber festival about 45 minutes away. This fiber festival was the very first fiber festival we participated in when we started the mill 17 years ago. I have not been there for a few years. Nice to see the festival still doing well. I visited with old friends and met a lot of new ones.

This weekend the shearer is coming to shear my flock. Marcie does a great job. Hopefully the weather is going to warm up. I am excited to see the fleeces this year. I am always amazed at how different they look once sheared. The top or outside of the wool can be a dull color and look a little matted on the sheep. Once sheared and the fleece is flipped over to reveal the underside, the true color shows through. This is especially true with the light gray Shetlands in the flock. Flipping over their fleece reveals a beautiful gray color.

It is also interesting how different sheep will have different quality of fleeces. Most of my Shetlands have very soft, nice fleeces. There are always a couple whose fleeces are coarser and more broken. These sheep have probably gone through stress during the winter which affects the wool. They may need some extra nutrition for a little while. Happy spring!