The Potting Shed

Jellycat · 4 Star Club Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 1713

Not quite sure where to put this, but I guess it's most likely audience is the spinners amongst us...

We have friends who have a few Ryeland sheep - not sure how many or how long they've had them, but they have a quantity of fleeces stored which they would like to be put to use.

They're keener to barter than sell, ideally they'd like to give the fleeces to a spinner and take a proportion of it back as yarn in exchange for the rest.

This is really just putting out feelers to see what people think...the fleeces are, I believe, pretty much as they come off the sheep, so not beautifully cleaned/carded etc. On the plus side, I believe that Ryeland wool is supposed to be pretty good for hand spinning...?

So what d'you think people? What proportion would be a suitable amount to ask for back as yarn? And is anyone interested?
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You can't have everything - where would you put it?

Bovey Belle · Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 7:24 am Post subject:

One fleece takes about 28 hours to card and spin up (according to Alice, whose spinning course I went on in 2006). The actual commercial value of a fleece is dependent on its breed and quality. I paid £2 for a Herdwick fleece (for a rug) at the Smallholders' Show at Builth. Prices were between that and about £10 I think, but I don't know if Ryeland would qualify for a premium, but even so, difficult to work on the spun yarn in return for fleece, as the spinning is so labour-intensive. You'd end up paying the spinner AND giving the fleece!
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mogs · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:08 am Post subject:

i pay on average about £5 a fleece. if and when i need one ( i do keep sheep for the fleece but sometimes run out ) i go to the wool marketing board.

i have seen them on ebay tho at around £8 for jacobs plus at least £8 p+p. now that is a lot to pay for a fleece IMHO.

to take a raw fleece and make it into a garment can take as much as 60 hours !