Very cute pattern! I will put that in my back pocket. I made 2 vests last year and find them very useful
Looks great! I’m still trying to get some more locks teased out and carded. I have a pile of batts, but am thinking of dizzing them off into roving as well. I think I’d like them better as roving strips than as big batts that have to be torn up to spin. Your spun yarn looks great. I love that vest pattern–it should be perfect for your yarn.
Yes, I agree!
Thanks @PurgirlButtons and @rkennell - you guys are going to be hearing about it for a very long time I’m afraid, but I think we all know how that goes with hand made stuff! 
Good! We’ll learn from your experience.
This looks amazing, I can’t wait to see how it spins up. I’m not a spinner, but I’m looking forward to cheerleading SDF.
The color is beautiful!
I love the vest pattern, thanks for sharing that.
So here’s how my Shetland fiber prep project is looking. I thought I had a ton of fiber done, but when I weighed it, I found it was less than half a pound!!! I was hoping to have enough for a sweater, but not sure if I’ll get 2 pounds out of it or not. (I read somewhere that 2 pounds is average for a sweater) I guess I can always order more Shetland fiber (already cleaned maybe???) to add to it. I’m not necessarily planning to have it all spun by the end of Spin de Fleece, but I’d like to have a lot of it done. I’m also separating out some of the darker color and am curious to see what it will look like in comparison and maybe use it as an accent yarn in whatever I decide to knit with it.
BTW, I have to put in a plug for @fancykitty --the owner is a good friend of mine (it’s not what you know but who you know–right???) and she let me use her own carder free of charge to process this fleece since they’re not traveling to shows right now. I have to say, I’m really liking this one. It’s not huge, but it’s big enough to turn out some nice-sized batts. They also have some larger ones but this one is perfect for just “at home” noncommercial use. This is the 3rd drum carder I’ve tried this summer and I like it the best of the ones I tried. The first one was an ancient model with a chain link drive belt and old teeth. The 2nd one was a modern Brother carder, but only about 4 inches wide. This one is really the size I’d like to have. I think I’ll probably end up purchasing one of these in the near future after I go through withdrawal when I give this one back!
I also purchased her little teaser board (only 20 bucks!) and it is so handy for teasing open the locks before carding. It also removes a lot of neps and noils and extra little pieces of VM that didn’t come out with the washing. Shetland fleece has a lot of short neps and noils at the cut end since they are a rooed sheep and sometimes have a bit of the next year’s growth before shearing or rooing and the little teaser board helps get rid of a lot of that short stuff. (that’s what’s in the gray basket)
Ok, that looks like a major undertaking to a newbie spinner such as myself. I was just wondering this afternoon as I perused patterns on knitty, what an average handspun sweater would take. I can’t be sure it would be comparable to commercially spun yarn. Maybe by next year’s SdF I will be planning out a sweater’s worth of fiber. I did find some good basic pattern ideas, though, so maybe it won’t be that long. Did you say what pattern you are planning to use yet?
LOL–I haven’t got a pattern picked out and I’m beginning to think a vest might be a better undertaking! But I want to try and at least get this all processed and spun. Don’t feel like you need to tackle this. I’ve been spinning for about 4 or 5 years now and this is the first I’ve tried a raw fleece. I have sent some off to get processed by a small fiber mill (cleaned and combed) and that’s really a nice way to get it done. You just have to be willing to wait a while (like 5-7 months) to get it back! I had some Lincoln longwool given to me by some friends. I skirted it (the first one was pretty dirty) before sending it off and I was amazed at how nice and white it was! I also have 2 more (one white and one black) fleeces being processed that should arrive any day now. I have to admit, it’s nice to have it all combed into nice roving. But this is also fun and I wanted to give it a try–it’s just a lot more time consuming.
I’m glad you got to use a carder that you really like - I was thinking about getting one of those teaser boards- good to know you like that too. The color of your Shetland is beautiful - it would be a great colorwork project with other Shetland added in for other colors. It looks so soft and I bet it will be a pleasure to spin.
I just saw a handspun sweater using the Gentle Morning cardigan that weighs 16.5 oz. I do not know the size, but my impression is that unless you are making an oversized sweater with pockets and shawl collar and lots of ease and length, you could get by with under 2 pounds but of course, I would want ample to be on the safe side. Shetlands tend to be smaller fleeces. (I wonder if that is one reason people would use them for colorwork - hmmm. . .)
Okay a spinning friend gave me two more weigh-ins of handspun sweaters: 16.19 oz and 14.43 oz. I do not have sizes or styles, but it makes me feel better that sweaters can weigh closer to one pound than two pounds. Since I am new to this, I have decided to spin and see what can be done with my yardage.
Thanks for that reference. It is a nice-looking sweater and I might try something like that. This was not a huge fleece, but I also wasted some (prob 1/4-1/3 of the fleece) by trying to process it with a swing picker. It was offered by a kind lady who had one and she wanted me to come and give it a try. However, I ended up a pile of fiber full of neps and noils, so thankfully I didn’t do the whole fleece that way. I have a kitchen can garbage bag half full of the picked fiber and I am trying to decide what to do with it. I hate to waste it, but I might have to consider it a lesson learned. I could card it, but I have a feeling it will be a pain to spin. I could try using hand cards and see if I can rescue it, but not sure it will work. So at this point I’m focusing on getting the rest done properly. I may end up ordering some more Shetland roving when it’s all said and done (already cleaned and combed). Do you usually do 2 or 3 ply for sweaters and vests?
Woot! Woot! Timing is everything! Last summer I was given some free Lincoln longwool fleeces after walking through the sheep barn at our local 4H fair and meeting a family who had white and black Longwools. When I asked if I could buy the black fleece, they offered to give them both to me when they sheared their sheep the next time. They even delivered it to my doorstep! I skirted the fleece (gorgeous locks!) and finally got it sent off to the mill in January to have it washed and combed into roving. Originally it was supposed to take about 4-5 months, but with covid, they got further behind. So this week it showed up on my porch–isn’t that just timely!?? Now not only do I have a nice batch of Shetland fleece to spin (see my earlier post), but I also now have 4 bags full (2 white, 2 gray) of gorgeous, cloud-soft fiber to spin! I’m thinking I might use it for weaving or even knit up a large sweater of some sort that could be worn over a layer. I’ll have to experiment.
A shout-out to Round Barn Fiber Mill in the northern part of our state (IL). This is the 2nd time I’ve shipped them some wool and had them work their magic. I had another friend who gave me some LL fiber about 2 years prior and it was not as clean (I skirted it multiple times before sending it) and it had mixed lengths of lamb and full-grown sheep locks and I got back 3 bags of lovely white stuff. They really do a great job!
I’m dying to start spinning! (And I’m thinking I’m going to need more than 1 month of intense spinning to get this done!)
I’m just finishing up spinning some fiber from The Round Barn Fiber Mill, purchased at the Michigan Fiber Festival 2 years ago. Want to have it plied before the 29th so I can start something new. Even though the picture shows a spindle I’ve spun it on my wheel.
How fun! Some day I want to go to a fiber festival again…I’ve only been to one in Chicago about a year ago (Yarn-Con). I’d love to see the yarn from it! It’s a pretty color. I guess I have never ordered fiber from them besides what I have sent up to get cleaned and processed, but I like what I’ve gotten from them.
This looks wonderful!
I can’t wait to see what you spin with this.