Chewie

Chewie is the name of the Targhee Sheep residing at Merry Meadows Farms. I was lucky enough to win some of his fleece, and it's mighty pretty stuff, if I so say so myself.

This photo shows the raw fleece. It was amazingly clean which is good because I swore I would never buy raw fleece again, as I'm not particularly fond of the washing process.

I had bought Targhee batts from Merry Meadows farms in the past, and it was wonderful stuff. It practically spun itself, so I was pretty excited to get 2.2 lbs of this stuff, even if I did have to wash it myself.

I bought two lingerie bags, and put approx. 4 oz in each one and started washing, two 4-0z. batches at once.

Look at how beautiful it is washed and ready to be carded! I don't think I've ever seen fleece with a golden yellow glow to it. Leaving it in the sun to dry seemed to make it even more beautiful.






Once it was dry, I started the carding process. I just grabbed handfuls of it, teasing it apart and tossing it into the drum carder. I carded each batt at least twice. My little Petite Strauch drum carder is joy to use.









I now have 3 brown grocery bags full of creamy buttery batts, ready to be spun. The picture to the left doesn't really do justice to the color of the batts.

After washing, and carding I have 27.6 oz. (that includes the weight of the brown grocery bags). I had toyed with the idea of dyeing it, but I just love the natural color, it makes me think of an Aran Fishermans sweater. I don't think I have enough to do one of those though, so for now it's sitting in the bags waiting for me to decide what to make out of it. Do I want a 3 ply? a two ply?

We shall see.