If you follow my blog you will know Peewee (Melody) very well, she was born in February 2013 and was lamb of the year....... the most mischievous and adorable little character I've ever had the pleasure to rear.
She has grown up into a charismatic girl, who can still get her nose put out of joint if I spend too much time with another sheep but is also capable of being as needy and affectionate today as she was at only a few days old. She still likes to sit down on the ground when I ask her, with her head on my knee and we can spend too many hours in each other's company... lolling about for no other reason than to spend time together.
She has grown up into a charismatic girl, who can still get her nose put out of joint if I spend too much time with another sheep but is also capable of being as needy and affectionate today as she was at only a few days old. She still likes to sit down on the ground when I ask her, with her head on my knee and we can spend too many hours in each other's company... lolling about for no other reason than to spend time together.
..............And just look what she has presented me with, 18 months after her birth, a gift that only she could give, and for which I will be eternally grateful..... and what an acreage...... a fleece of fine soft dark chocolate with caramel tips.. its gorgeous and never to be repeated as its her first years baby lambs wool.
Yesterday I half filled a black plastic dustbin with hot water and added a very large helping of washing up liquid.. pushing the fleece into it gently until it was completely submerged. I left it to soak in the solution for 2 hours to release all the lanolin and dirt and then drained it out... adding fresh clean water at the same temperature until the water was coming through relatively clean. I take pains not to agitate it too much as I don't want it to felt at all. I laid it all out on wire racking to dry slowly in the sunshine, turning it over this evening to reveal the beautiful caramel tips which have been naturally bleached in the weather over the fleeced lifetime while still growing on Pees....... I hope I can card it so not to loose this dramatic combination or colours, but it'll take some doing. Thank you Peewee!
Yesterday I half filled a black plastic dustbin with hot water and added a very large helping of washing up liquid.. pushing the fleece into it gently until it was completely submerged. I left it to soak in the solution for 2 hours to release all the lanolin and dirt and then drained it out... adding fresh clean water at the same temperature until the water was coming through relatively clean. I take pains not to agitate it too much as I don't want it to felt at all. I laid it all out on wire racking to dry slowly in the sunshine, turning it over this evening to reveal the beautiful caramel tips which have been naturally bleached in the weather over the fleeced lifetime while still growing on Pees....... I hope I can card it so not to loose this dramatic combination or colours, but it'll take some doing. Thank you Peewee!
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