Rub-a-Dub-Dub...

Considering the number of fleeces I have stored, I should be taking every possible opportunity provided by sunny weather to process them but for one reason and another that doesn't usually happen. The other week it did, however....when I got round to tackling a Gotland fleece.

These are the kind of sheep my fleeces this time came from.

(Picture taken from http://www.gotlandsheep.com/)

I have a couple of them which I was given and I have been looking forward to doing something with them but they arrived as one, large bundle and I kept putting off looking at what I was going to have to tackle....Anyway, curiosity and the wish to have some of this fleece to spin got the better of me: I managed to separate them...

This is just one, spread out to sort into manageable bits to wash..

.....which seemed to have had some of its locks trimmed off and I found piles of them in amongst the rest of the fleece.

I washed the loose locks first and then sorted the rest for washing.....predictably, this process took all day and loads of bowls and a baby bath, not to mention lots of water....

......and three days draped over an airer to dry. The result, however, is lovely and soft and I am looking forward to processing it.

One thing is for sure, I have lots of spinning ahead of me!