I have been making progress with the Hampshire Down Fleeces that I bought earlier on in the year. I am still disappointed with the amount of dirt and vegetable matter that they contain. The fleeces are not easy to sort as the staples are quite open and they can't be unrolled into a recognisable sheep shape. The fleece just breaks up. However, I have been very ruthless and sorted through to find some cleaner slightly longer, finer staples with less rubbish in.
I washed and dried this before drum carding. This is only my practise, but for my CofA I will hand card as I believe that I will get better results. During my practise I have discovered that the advice I have been given about light and fluffy preparation by a fellow Online Guild member seems to be spot on. I have also hand painted (dyed) some of the fleece to experiment with a bit of colour.
By selecting better fleece to start with and improving on my preparation I have obtained better results. I am still struggling to get an even yarn though as I find that I am concentrating very hard on the technique and finding a consistent yarn hard to achieve.
