Ryeland rocks!

Thanks to Jane at Dove Farm, via Twitter, I am now the proud owner of a white Ryeland fleece.  Thanks to the lovely sunny weather I have even been able to wash and dry some of it already!  It's very beautiful, pearly white and soooooo soft.  I have started the lengthy job of carding it, to prepare it for feltmaking - rather than rolling it up into rolags like I would for spinning, I roll it in the opposite direction off the carder to make little fat sausages of wool where the fibres are mostly running in the same direction - not as smooth as commercially combed locks which most feltmakers use, but less troublesome than rolags where the fibres go every which way.  Over the weekend I shall be using the first of the carded wool, mixed with some wonderful dyed fibres from Freyalynn, in a study for the Tretower series (see earlier blog posts).  Can't wait!!!