Some will not like the little bumps in the roving and they may say it makes it hard to ply I say the strength of the Mohair and the bumpyness of the Southdowns give it a rustic, durable Western look. Couldn't you see this made into a barn sweater?? Mom can.... Me? I see it as those fingerless gloves. (then again that is just us .. You might see it as something else) I also think I am not going to dye any either. I like it natural. It is all organic, down to earth and it just screams YoungShepard. The one thing I am aiming to change is the VM that is in the roving and yarn. After Lambing and Kidding Season we are going to start jacketing our flock. We will have two or three size jackets for them to grow their fleece under so we should get little to no VM in next falls Crop.
With all that said Ms. Stacy did say one thing that made me feel pretty good ... Okay three really ... First she said my roving spun up really nice. Then she also said she liked my Mohair, and last she said I had the color thing down pat. These three things made me feel pretty good about our first crop. The spinning up good makes me happy because I have heard some fibers are hard to spin and I didn't want my Roving to be hard or people won't want it. Then she said she liked my Mohair. This is from a lady who says she doesn't like Mohair because it is itchy. Well, we found a blend that allows the shine of the mohair to come through while having the softness I wanted. (I had to be happy with the face test for it to be soft enough) To be honest I had to blend wool into it to get the softness but being a kid I really couldn't afford to blend in Merino, which is the softest wool ever. So I settled for something else and came up with a 70/30 blend that I think I can be proud of. Okay, Mom helped me sort that part out but I had the final say.
Over the next few days I will be packaging and getting all the shares mailed out ... Did I mention Mom is wanting to get our own Merino sheep??? Turns out she is serious and is trying to locate some for sale.