Cleaning & Carding A Sheep's Fleece

This is Taddy my dear friends sheep. She is a Norfolk Horn breed and is a family pet. She was raised in the kitchen by a cosy Aga range. She was the only girl amongst 3 brothers and was so small they called her tadpole, hence Taddy. I was lucky enough to be given Taddys fleece from last spring.  I was a big knitter years ago and I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed working with Taddys fleece. The feel and texture, plus personally knowing Taddy, has bought back many happy memories of knitting hours for my husband. I went on a day’s course for needle felting, and I am truly hooked. So Christmas has come again! being given this beautiful fleece to work with.

I have taken some photos of the different stages of preparing the fleece.  My friends have a white scotty dog called Wilf who wears a red bling collar, as well as Taddy, so I wanted to make something for them as a thank you.

Washing the fleece after it had been
rinsed a couple of times in clean water.

This is the washed and rinsed fleece,
must not agitate at all as it will felt.

Drying the fleece over the bath, letting
the excess water drip out, as the fleece
cannot be squeezed too much.

The lovely washed and dried fleece,
ready for carding.

Really enjoyed this part, carding the
fleece and rolling into little piles.

Taddys clean, carded wooly fleece,
ready for spinning or felting.

I needle  felted the sheep's
 body from Taddy's fleece, but
 used Merino roving wool  for
the face and legs, as I have
got to learn how to dye the
fleece. 

The scotty dog 'Wilf' is made from
needle felting the fleece and both
the handles are needle felted from
Taddy's fleece.

Hoping to make some products with the fleece for my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/KaysKraftyGifts