Raw fleece has unlimited potential. It can become so many different things depending on who’s hands it’s in. The smell and feel of raw wool is a pleasure to the senses. Sometimes they smell like sweet hay or just “sheepy” in a good way. Ram odor is the exception, at least for me.
Regular handling of raw wool helps my poor dry hands (especially in the winter) stay much softer. Lanolin is a wonder!

And the crimp…OMG! Why is crimp so exciting?? The tiny little crimps of a super fine Merino or the deep crimp of a Corriedale…oh they are just a sight to behold!! The thin spirals of a Bluefaced Leicester or the lustrous waves of a Cotswold…they’re all just so beautiful!

I first put my hands on a raw fleece sometime in 2010 (I think, could have been late 2009). I knew nothing. I had just learned to spin in May of 2009 and was starting to get comfortable with the yarn making process.
I saw an ad on Craigslist for raw fleece. I made contact and picked up around 6 freshly shorn raw fleeces. These were from a mixed breed flock on a small farm…and they were free! I did some research and asked some newly made fiber friends about washing fleece and gave it a go. I learned so much from those early fleeces. I developed my own process for washing and my at the time boyfriend (now husband) built me a drying rack. I was all set!

I had already bought lots and lots of commercially prepared fibers before I acquired the raw fleeces and they were all really beautiful!
But…once I got my hands on raw fleece and decided that I really only wanted to spin from my own hand processed fibers, I had a sale and sold off most of it. I turned into somewhat of a purist.

The downside to deciding to hand prepare all of my own fibers is that it is a somewhat slow process. The quick sit and spin from that braid of top wasn’t so quick anymore. Sorting, washing and combing…all before I can sit down to spin it. This is my process, yours may be different. You may hand card your wool or make batts on a drum carder. You may flick and spin or do nothing but tease it open with your hands as you’re spinning. That’s all good but I just love the way combed fibers look, feel and spin up! It makes the most lovely smooth and even yarns.

Ok, so how long does it take to acquire so much fleece that you start sneaking them into the house so the person you live with doesn’t give you the look? You know, the one with a slight eye roll. Not exactly disapproving, but more of a “really, another one…why?”. 
Yes, for a while…and when I say a while I mean years, several years…I bought almost every pretty fleece that caught my eye. I really was struggling to find places to store them.

At the end of 2019 I only reserved one fleece for the following year and decided after that one I would go on a “fleece diet”. Of course in 2020, the whole world shut down and there were no fiber festivals or travel for about two years for me. So it wasn’t too much of a struggle to avoid fleece. Then when fiber festivals started back up I would see one and decide it wouldn’t be as bad if I shared it with someone, right? It’s not really a fleece if it isn’t a whole fleece?? Sometimes I’d get a fleece thrown at me. A free fleece. I would take it and if I couldn’t use it I’d carry it to a guild meeting and throw it on the free table.

In the beginning I wasn’t as picky as I am now. I consider myself more of a curator of good quality wool at this point. I am willing to pay more for a clean, well kept fleece. They’re easier to wash and, well, they just look so darned pretty!