maybe a bargain?

A week or so ago I spotted an advert on eBay, 2-3 kilo of fleece, not whole fleece and a mixture of Charollais and Beltex. Simply a bag stuffed full for £5 plus postage.

I have never spun either of these breeds, one of which is not in my book of breeds so really didn't know much about them, so I thought I would take a chance on it.

I'm assuming that the shorter locks are the charollais and the longer ones are the Beltex, both meat breeds.

So into the buckets for a soak, a wash and a rinse

and onto the line to dry out. first two bags are dry ( originally 3 bags but pinched one back for the next wash)

The first samples show that the Charolais is  short staple little/no crimp and springy when spun ( reminds me a bit of down breeds) would keep you warm as mittens/hat, The Beltex is finer, softer, longer and I will probably in hats although it would probably do as cardigan/jumper depending on how much you like wool!! at 20% Charollais and 80% Beltex I'm happy.

The longer sample on the left is the Charollais, more creamy in colour than the Charollais which is oaty in colour.

I don't know if these are typical fleece for the breeds or even which part of the fleece the samples come from.

I think I will be spending the holiday weekend washing fleece!!