Pick a Fleece Without Getting Fleeced

We have a lot of great new video content in our Yarn & Fiber Workshops. But sometimes you have something that is so wonderful and interesting it needs no updating. Such is Judith MacKenzie’s Three Bags Full, now available as a streaming workshop. Have you wanted to choose and spin your own fleece, but had no idea where to start? Join Judith at Estes Wool Market (right here in Colorado), and learn how to confidently select, wash, and prepare fleece for spinning.

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You can watch a preview here. Judith sorts out a Jacob fleece:

Embedded content: https://youtu.be/b9WtoXhsbDg

Former editor of Spin Off Magazine, Amy Clarke Moore, helped create the original video, and had this to say at the time:

A four-hour extravaganza of festival, fiber, processing, and spinning—Three Bags Full is so chock-full of tips that it is bursting at the seams. One of the tips that I put into use right away was about how to store a fleece. It is so simple and easy, it is just mind-blowing, and I can't wait to share it with you. Judith suggests storing all fleeces in round plastic tubs with airtight lids—the kind that you find at industrial-size kitchens filled with potatoes or onions. She stomps the fleece down into the bucket, pushing out all the air. She says that by storing the fleece this way, you can prevent infestations of bugs and rodents, plus prevent the grease on the wool from oxidizing and becoming stale. When you open the bucket to work on it in two weeks, two months, or ten years, it'll be as fresh as it was the day you put it in the bucket. She recommends keeping a lock of wool out of the tub to tape to the outside so that when you're looking for your fleece, you know exactly what is in the tub.

Sure, I know Judith MacKenzie’s ability to choose a fleece comes from years of experience—but doesn’t she look like some kind of wool dowser?

Three Bags Full is a new, streamable course you can watch at your own pace—anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Never stop learning,

Allison

Posted September 10, 2010. Updated February 1, 2019.