A Forgotten Polwarth Fleece

I've been getting things ready to put in the shop, and at the same time having a good clear out. I've got to the point where there's way too much fibre that takes up a lot of space. Got to be ruthless and get rid of the stuff I know deep down that I will never use.

Some things are too good to throw away though, like this Polwarth carded fleece. It's a good example of a bad cleaning job. I didn't clean it, this fibre was a purchase from last year - after which I promptly stored it away and forgot all about it:

Plenty of V.M. and second cuts which are distributed quite evenly throughout the whole lot. It's a shame as it's beautiful fibre. I suppose if it was  romney or corriedale coloured fleece and I wanted to spin it into a woollen yarn for a rustic type garment then it's probably acceptable but I want to spin this into a fine lace weight 2 ply yarn, adding plenty of twist for a fine and light lace garment.





I put it through the combs, getting very little nice fibre and lots of waste, which is fine as I would have thrown it out anyway. It's easy and quick to comb as it's been carded already, but the staple length is only 2 inches at the most.

I know some people will think I'm just being too fussy, but I like to spin clean well prepared fibre. I find it makes spinning so much more pleasurable, easier and quicker. I hate it when I have to keep stopping to pull out rubbish from the fibre. I would rather have 100g of something that's been beautifully prepped and is a pleasure to spin rather than 1kg of something that I feel is not up to the mark.