Here’s a little update on the fiber processing that went on yesterday afternoon.  Gotta keep the process moving!  Most of it goes pretty quickly.  The carding is the bottleneck.  I’ve got a great carder; as personal carders go, it’s top-of-the-line. But I card all my fibers twice, and there’s only one, and there’s only me to run it!  If there is anything I would wish for in the fiber processing arena, it would be a mini-mill carder.

Dove’s beautiful black/brown fleece from fall 2009 was washed (twice) and rinsed (3 times) and put on the dryer. 

Its next steps are being picked and carded.

Since her spring 2010 fleece was short (we aren’t going to shear the Shetlands twice a year any more), I’ve substituted this better fleece in for my shareholders.

Antwonne’s black/silver mohair is now dry.

The next step for this fiber is to be separated into curls vs. fiber to be blended into batts.

I’m thinking of blending some of this with some of my black/silver angora rabbit fiber.  Won’t that be as soft as a cloud!

The brown Shetland (also a fall 2009 fleece — either Vevay’s or Vanora’s, not sure which) is in various stages of carding.

The rolled batts in the front are finished and ready to send out to shareholders and for sale in the Farm Store.

The batts in the back need to be run through the carder again.  It goes pretty quickly the second time.

And that’s a recap of Friday’s Fiber Processing!