Friday, March 27, 2009

Wolverine had a farm, eieio

Or Wolberine, as Gilad pronounces it.  No, this is a different variety of mutant--California Variegated Mutant, or CVM as it's commonly called, a colored, usually variegated, variety of Romeldale sheep.  And here in my house is a lamb fleece that just arrived from Currow Hill Ranch in California:

And here for your extreme pleasure is a close up of the crimp and fibers:

See all the colors?  I separated out the most black areas of the fleece, 

leaving me with white, grey, and brown sections.  And if anyone else is considering ordering from Marta Sullivan, let me tell you this arrived as promised, in great condition, in sheep shape (my preference over random clumps of wool locks), with truly almost no VM, and very little in second cuts to sort out.  I am very, very happy to have taken a chance with this purchase and definitely hope to order from her again.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

In SHEEP shape???

(grooaan)

Leesy said...

No, really, I did just mean that it's literally in the shape of the sheep instead of clumps of fiber separated from each other. It makes a difference when you're sorting some fleeces because you can more easily sort the finer from the coarser fleece...

--donna said...

I've been washing some CVM from Marta and have to agree, it is a favorite. Now you've made me want to get more! Lovely styff.

Henya said...

This fleece looks really cool. I need to learn how to work with unwashed fleece. I would love to make a journey together with my fiber from raw to knitted up.

Leesy said...

When I started spinning, I was sure I'd always be content to just spin all the great roving available prepared and pre-dyed for me. Now I've been bitten by the fleece bug and I love, love, love starting with raw wool and working it myself. In fact one of my big problems is that while I am obsessed with natural dyeing, I can't bring myself to dye a lot of the wonderful raw fleece I want to use in its natural color. So logically what do I need? More fleece, of course!