Sheep Shearing

Sheep shearing day for 2010 came and went, and now there are bags of wool in the barn. The shearer got here pretty early in the morning and the sky was cloudy, so it made it really nice for shearing. There have been times when it was blazing hot by the time we got them sheared, making things really uncomfortable for the sheep, the shearer, and the shepherds. Here's what Velvet looked like last fall not long after we bought her. Of course, her wool grew quite a bit more over the winter.And here's what she looks like after shearing:Quite a change, huh? I just thought she was small before. The other day I mistook her for one of the lambs.

And here's Angus right after we brought him home. (He, too, grew a LOT more wool over the winter.)And now...This picture really doesn't do him justice. He's so slick and black and handsome! He almost looks shiny.

We fixed a skirting table in one of the sheds outside. I'm still learning...I had seen a picture somewhere of someone skirting using a similar set up. Before when I had skirted fleece, I spread a plastic table cloth out on the ground and put the fleece on it. This is SO much easier! And probably works a lot better, too, since some of the VM has a chance to fall through the grate and out of the fleece.Here's Velvet's fleece spread out on the table. The picture doesn't do her fleece justice, either. Somehow it's really hard to capture the color of her fleece on film. Or should I say "in pixels?"
I couldn't wait to wash a little section. Here's the result:

It has a really long staple, compared to what I'm used to, and is sooo soft. I'm planning on working on it again today, hopefully a bigger bunch at a time. I'm getting anxious to spin some up!