What should I do with this raw fleece?

[Think of Winter]

I received a bunch of wool from a freecycler. Can anyone tell me the best use for it? I think I'll most likely send it out to be cleaned and carded, since I don't want to buy cards. It is boarder leister/romney/with some Karakul. Yarn? Batting?

[monkeys4mama]

I had some border liecester fleeces two years ago, another freecycle item from a local farmer. The fleece was medium length and medium courseness. I skirted and picked and washed and carded some of it myself, with the help of my kids, then I sent the rest away to be processed.

Working with the raw fleece by hand was a cool experience for me and the kids and something we learned from and enjoyed. It's a lot of work though. Satisfying when you're done, but very time and labor-intensive. We just had a set of hand cards.

Do you have a place nearby where you can get your fleece processed? I found that it can be quite expensive, esp if you have to factor in the cost of shipping. You'll want to skirt the fleeces really well before you mail out b/c you don't want to waste money shipping waste wool.

Do you know much about the fleeces or how well they were sheared? I ask b/c I found out after the fact that the fleeces I got had quite a lot of "second cuts" in them, meaning that the shearer didn't cut close enough in the first pass and went back over some parts a second time to get the sheep sheared fully. This leaves pieces of really short wool that are not usable. If I had known more about skirting and sorting fleeces, I would have done a better job picking out the best wool to send in and then would not have wasted money mailing the not-so-hot fleece. I hear that unusable fleece is good for composting.

As for what to do with the fleece, you might try cleaning and spinning a small section yourself to see what you think of the processed wool. Then if you like the feel of it, texture and softness and such, you may choose to have it processed for fiber. And if it doesn't suit your taste for spinning into yarn, you could have it made into a batt. I think I should have had my wool made into a batt. It's not all that wonderful for spinning.

Hope that helps. Good luck!