Picking Out A Fleece

Where does one even find fleeces ? What separates a good fleece from a bad fleece ? And what's all this about breeds ?

So you aren't a shepherd (yet) but you want to spin from fleeces ? You tire of roving, of "combed top" that's not exactly fresh off the mill, of paying out the nose for a tiny amount of a specific fiber ? Or you haven't spun a thing, but you want to start at the source ? Wonderful !

But... where to find a fleece ?

There's not one already in your immediate vicinity... so what to do ? Well, it depends on what's around you. Are there shepherds nearby ? Sometimes, wool is simply composted. It needs to be removed from the sheep for its own health, but not all shepherds know what to do with it, or care to put the work into a fleece when they're only raising the sheep for meat. So if you are friends with any shepherds, it's worth asking them what they do with their fleeces (and if they might be willing to part with one). If you're lucky, you may even get one for free.

No shepherds nearby ? Not to fret--many regions have fiber festivals where fleeces are sold. If you're lucky, there may be one in your city or town. If you're unlucky, you may have to venture several hours, or take a train or plane. Fiber festivals are, at least to me, the best place to buy fleeces. You can see them in person and know what you're getting, and there is often a wide variety of different breeds, of fleeces in different conditions, and of lots of other nice things to spin. Make sure to check that fleeces are sold there--I've never encountered a fiber fest where there weren't any, but you never know.

If the fiber fest is too far away (or too distant in the future), don't worry--the interwebs will provide. Depending on where you live, you may need to order from abroad, which unfortunately means very expensive shipping. This might incentivize you to buy cheaper fleeces--we'll discuss why some fleeces are cheaper than others soon.

If I'm buying online, I usually use Etsy. As of 2024, it's got a surprising variety of fleeces. Some shepherds also have their own websites where they sell their fleeces--if there are any shepherds near you, and you're shy, you could always try looking up the name of their farm and seeing if they sell their wool. You can also just try searching something like "buy wool fleece online [your country]".

What makes a good fleece ?

Most of those who work with fleece would probably tell you that one spinner's trash is another spinner's treasure. And largely that's true--where one spinner might turn its nose up at a fleece with substantial vegetable matter (heretofor referred to simply as "VM"--this is hay, seeds, burrs, splinters, or any other vegetal bits that can turn up in a fleece), another might not mind one bit.

"Why would someone willingly pick out bits of hay from a fleece?" You might ask. Well--the better condition a fleece is in, the more it will cost. Some spinners have the money to buy only coated (literally putting a coat on the sheep to prevent things from getting in the wool) fleeces from the softest breeds, but most of us don't have that luck. And so we work extra, so that we can buy a fleece that has the potential to be just as soft and clean. They don't price a fleece by potential--just by its current state.

Here are some things that can make a fleece less desireable. The following four can be dealt with and are, to a point, expected in a raw fleece.

• Dirt, dust, and mud. Lets start with the obvious. Dust is in the air, and will settle on sheep. Over time, quite a lot of it can accrue, making an otherwise white fleece light brown. Unless the sheep was coated, you will always find some dust on a fleece, so assume any raw fleece will be less brown once washed.
• Dung tags. Sheep don't do much in the way of cleaning themselves, so dung sticks to their behinds, and sometimes other places. Some fleeces are "skirted" before being sold--skirting is the process of removing all the grossest bits, which certainly includes the bits caked with dung. This might be done very strictly, leaving nothing gross behind, but usually it is only removing the worst of the worst. You can kind of expect dung tags on a fleece unless it is very expensive and well-skirted indeed. These can be pulled or cut off the fleece, if you are squeamish, or simply washed until only the wool is left. Either way, the presence of dung in a fleece will lower its value.
• Vegetable matter. As discussed earlier, this is tiny pieces of plants in the fleece. Some spinners will also refer to sand, mud, or grit as "VM"; I'm often one of them. Either way, VM won't make your spinning easier. Most spinners try to remove most of the VM before spinning, although some don't--with time, you will find out how much VM is too much for you personally to bother with. VM can be removed during the preparation of the fleece, but lots will also just naturally work its way out as you spin and then use the yarn. So some VM certainly doesn't ruin a fleece, but it will drive the price down. It's also good to note that not all VM is made equal. Large pieces of hay or twigs are easily removed, but burrs and thistles can be much harder. Very fine vm might be impossible to pick out by hand, and will need to be processed specially.
• Second cuts. These are short hairs created when a shearer goes over an area that it already cut, and shaves off a little more. This will stick to the fleece, and cause lumpy yarn if left in. Of course, lumpy yarn is not the end of the world--and indeed, if I ever want a large amount of "rustic" yarn I would reach for a fleece with second cuts. But for anyone seeking even or fine yarn, these can be an annoyance. In my experience, they are easily removed by hand but difficult to see. I expect some second cuts on pretty much every fleece, but there shouldn't be a lot of them, because as I said, you will likely have to pick each one out by hand, or else allow them to slub up your yarn.

As I said; if a fleece doesn't have these issues, then it is a very nice fleece indeed. The majority do to varying degrees. But the more there is, the longer it will take to clean your fleece. You can always skirt the worst pieces and focus on the nicest stuff--but you'll still have to pay for the entire fleece, so consider how much of the fleece will be usable once you've skirted it. Additionally, it's important to note that some VM cannot be removed except with specific tools.

Story Time !

About a year into processing raw fleece, I found a very cheap debouillet fleece that I immediately bought. Debouillet is a very fine, crimpy wool--buttery soft and a real joy to spin. The listing did say there was VM, but I was confident I could remove it easily.

Not so. It turns out the VM was just these tiny splinters (imagine the spines of a cactus, although not quite as sharp) that were shot through the entirety of the fleece. I did clean quite a lot of it, and it was indeed beautiful fiber, but it was a pain the entire time. Both literally and metaphorically. After about 2 days of constant lock-by-lock cleaning, I had enough and relegated it to the bottom of the fleece pile. I still have a lot of it actually; I won't throw it away because it is usable, but I only ever clean a little bit of it at a time, even now that I have tools than can remove fine VM from fine wool. So--even though it was very cheap for a Debouillet, it was not actually a very good deal for me.

I would advise caution especially with finewool, as it's much more difficult to remove VM from finewool than from any other grade of wool. Super crimpy wools (such as that from down breeds, especially Southdown) can also pose real problems when it comes to VM removal. Indeed, even mill processed Southdown often has an incredible amount of grit left in the wool. I don't want to discourage you from working with finewool or down breeds--they both are very fun and very useful for a variety of applications--but I would never recommend buying one as your first fleece. An everyday medium wool fleece is perfect for a beginner, and will likely be much easier and cheaper to aquire anyway.

Potential problems in fleeces

Now lets move onto some fleece problems that for many spinners are an instant No, even if the fleece is otherwise perfect.

• Canary stains and fleece rot. Canary stains are yellow stains on wool. These are caused by a bacterial infection in the sheep. These stains are dye resistant, and while the gummy crud that the stained wool will be caked in can be washed out, the stained areas will be weaker and can break more easily. Fleece rot is much the same in prognosis--the discoloration will not be removed, and the discolored wool is weaker and prone to breakages. This affects not just how the yarn will spin up, but also how the finished object will wear. A sock made of yarn from wool stricken by fleece rot or canary stain will pill and wear through much quicker than a sock made of healthy wool. Fleeces with canary stain and fleece rot are not a good choice for handspinning, although if you can see that only a small portion of the fleece is affected, it may be worth buying for the rest. Note that yellow discoloration of a raw fleece does not at all guarantee canary stains, however. Urine stains can look similar, but also can be removedor dyed over and don't indicate weakness in the fiber. Lanolin can also yellow with age, and can stain wool if left on long enough; again, this doesn't indicate weakness in the fiber. A yellow fleece at best means extra care (usually just extra washes), and at worst means unusable.
• Scurf. Scurf is flakes of dead skin stuck in the wool. Sounds like dandruff--but dandruff also occurs in fleeces, and it comes out quite easily. No, scurf is caused by mites, and is something to avoid whenever possible. These flakes are usually large and always jagged and patchy. They are resistant to being combed out, but that is the only way to remove them. Technically, they pose no actual threat to the wool or to your yarn--scurffed fleeces aren't weak or rotting--but unless you are okay with spinning and using yarn that has tons of dead skeep skin in it, you will want to give it a pass. As mentioned, scurf can be removed via combing, just don't expect that to be easy or pleasant.
• Breaks. A break is a weak point in a fleece. It will affect the entire fleece as is it caused by stress to the sheep--illness, injury, a big fright from a predator, or any other number of things can cause breaks. This can be detected by looking for horizontal lines in the locks--a line of thin wool indicates a break. If you aren't sure, try taking ahold of one end of the lock in one hand and one end in the other, and quickly pull your hands apart. If it breaks--you've got a break. These are undesireable for the same reason as fleece rot is undesireable--weak wool doesn't serve you well.

So our hypothetical perfect raw fleece would be:

• Entirely free of dung tags
• Entirely free of VM (this can be achieved only by coating the sheep, but mostly free of VM is possible without coating, and is almost as good)
• Not dusty or muddy (again, this would have to be coated)
• Entirely free of second cuts (the shearer must be incredibly skilled)
• Not yellow
• Not scurfy
• and free of breaks

Expect to pay a lot for a fleece that meets all of those criteria. That's why most spinners will settle for less. I've been known to willingly buy and process fleeces with a lot of VM or dung tags if the wool itself was worth it, and second cuts are (in my opinion) an annoyance more than an actual issue. You'll figure out your own preferences as you go.

Personally, I am willing to put a fair amount of work into a fleece before spinning it, so here's what I look for:

• Well skirted--no sections that are totally unusable from dung or VM. Some dung and VM is fine
• Not scurfy or canary stained, but yellow is alright as that is often lanolin staining
• Free of breaks

With lower parameters, I can usually find a fleece that's affordable but not too much work. As I said, everyone's threshholds are different here, so I encourage you to experiment with coated fleeces if possible, and overly dirty/VM-y fleeces as well.

Okay, but how does the breed affect this ?

Great question ! Humans have been breeding sheep for quite some time now, and have created a wide array of characteristics in wool. Any given fleece might be crimpy or not, soft or not, might be any number of colors, might have a long or short staple length, might have locks that are blocky or wispy, or even more characteristics. So it's important to understand at least the basics of different breeds before you start buying fleece.

Let's start with medium wools

• Medium wool breeds have a staple length that is neither very short nor very long (anywhere between 3-5 inches or 7.5-12.5 centimeters). This makes it easy to process on almost any fiber tool. Staple length refers to the length of the locks.
• The wool will be soft but not necessarily next-to-skin quality (so good for things like hats, bags, outerwear, etc. Some medium wool fleeces might be soft enough for sweaters, blankets, and scarves--this really depends on your own tolerance for scratchiness, as well as the individual sheep.)
• The wool will not be especially crimpy nor especially non-crimpy. The crimpiness of a fleece affects elasticity/stretch. A very crimpy wool will be very elastic, while a non crimpy wool has no stretch. This affects how you spin it, but also what it can be used for; socks or other fitted and negative ease garments would not fit correctly if made out of a wool that has no crimp.

It's very important to note that the softness, staple length, and crimp all change based on where on the body it came from. Every fleece will have a variety of those qualities. This can make evaluating fleeces a little difficult--typically, I decide based on what the majority of the fleece is like. If the majority is fairly soft, somewhat crimpy, and medium length, then I will call it a medium wool fleece, even if some sections are coarse or super crimpy.

Now, there are several other categories of fleece which I will go into less detail on, as they are typically less beginner friendly, more expensive, and a little harder to find.

Down wool is a type of wool that's known for its elasticity. Down wool tends to be very crimpy, and can range from fine and soft to quite strong and a little coarse. Down wool is great for socks and depending on the softness can also make great sweaters, bags, hats, mittens, and what have you. A good choice for an all purpose wool. One thing to note is that down wool seems to get lots of grit and sand stuck in it. Lots of down wool that comes out of mills still has grit in it, because it's quite hard to remove from such an elastic and crimpy wool. I've found these gritty down fleeces require hand or palm combs to clean.

Longwool is a type of wool known for its length and inelasticity. Longwool can be sleek and smooth or hairy and scratchy; it depends on the breed and the individual sheep. Longwool is often quite strong as well. Longwool cannot be cleaned on hand cards effectly, and require hand or palm combs to be opened and cleaned. This kind of wool is not well suited to things like socks or gloves due to the inelasticity, but can make great bags, outerwear, blankets, etc.

Finewool is a type of wool known for its softness. Finewool tends to have much more lanolin than other types of wool, meaning a raw finewool fleece might weight 1/3 as much once washed if you're unlucky. Finewool is best for next-to-skin garments, baby clothes, and fine lace. It can be spun much thinner than many other types of wool, so if you're going for cobweb or thread, finewool is a good idea. Finewool that has been coated can usually be prepared on hand combs, but if it's got debris or VM is often requires hand or palm combs to clean.