The Gulf Islands Spinning Mill

Finished Yarns, Retail Products, Spinning

FLEECE CARE: SKIRTING A FLEECE

Good skirting of wool fleeces is absolutely essential to good processing and there is a big difference between skirting by a shearer and skirting for a spinning mill.

Ask your shearer to roll each fleece separately (not piled one on top of the other).

When you’re ready to skirt, lay out each fleece sheared side upon a flat surface or over a mesh or slatted screen .

Remove and throw away:

All bits of manure that cling to the wool

Locks of wool that are heavily matted with manure

Sections of wool that are obviously different from the majority of the fleece – usually from the belly area: shorter, tightly curled, a different texture, sometimes a different colour. If included in your fleece to be processed, these locks will only diminish the quality of your finished product.

Locks that have burrs embedded in them. Burrs will damage our carders.

Binder twine, sticks, wood shavings (please don’t bed your sheep in wood shavings) and as much other solid material as you can find.

Pick up the fleece (or a convenient portion of it) and hold it sheared-side up. Shake it hard, and a great deal of dirt, seed material, and assorted foreign bodies will fall to the ground.

Reverse the fleece so you are holding it sheared side down. Shake it hard again, and you’ll likely see dozens of ‘second cuts’ fall to the ground. Second cuts in a fleece being processed for spinning create slubs in yarn, so getting rid of them before you send us your fleece will greatly improve the quality of your yarn.