Tom & Kris Potochick  Ω  54496 Smith Road  Ω  Ferryville, Wisconsin  54628  Ω  608-734-9954

FLEECE

Icelandic Fleece is dual coated, which means it is composed of two textures of fleece.  The soft inner fleece (thel) and the outer layer (tog) which is coarser but there are no guard hairs in Icelandic fleece.  The two can be separated or spun or felted together.  The Icelandic fleece is considered to be in the premium category.

Icelandic sheep shed their fleece once a year.  The rams start shedding about February and the ewes later in Spring.  Our sheep are sheared twice a year and the length of the fleece varies usually from 5-7" in length.

Prices for washed fleeces are $12.50 a pound plus postage. Prices for roving or clouds is approximately $18 a pound. When you consider the cost of raising, feeding and shearing which is ($3-$5/sheep) and the cost of sending fleeces out for processing and then a $3.50-$5.00 a pound to process into roving or clouds—you can see why the price of roving and clouds is quite reasonable at this price.

At this time I wash the fleeces myself with Orvus Paste (which has no smell). I soak one fleece at a time in hot, hot water in the wash machine without agitation for about 20 minutes, then drain and repeat the hot bath with a little less Orvus Paste, then drain and follow up with 2 or 3 rinses--being careful not to felt the fleece. To the last rinse I add a few drops of Pennyroyal which has a pleasant smell and the moths (I am told) do not like it.

Note: when changing water—the next process must be at the same temperature as the last wash or rinse was.

My plan now is to purchase a Patrick Green electric carder so I can process the fleeces myself into roving. I am really looking forward to being able to do this myself. It should also cut down on the amount I charge for roving and I will not have to wait for someone else to do it.