Fleece

We’ve got fleece, not fleeced, but….

The boys were recently sheered. (I’m always so embarrassed for them after the fact.)

To add insult to injury their faces did not get the clean up they really require. How well they can see is a mystery. We’ve ordered clippers to give them a ‘fresh look’, but as we’re the ones who will be welding the clippers it is anyone’s guess how ‘fresh’ it will be.

We were past due to deal with last year’s fleece. We had been told an easy way to clean it. So I got busy.

I dump it out on an old sheet because we know it will be dirty. Alpacas roll in the dirt for their hygiene. The fleece quickly expands.

The more I try picking out each little stick and burr, I begin to question the whole…”it’ll be easy”. However, I trudge on, getting a very small pile picked sort of cleaner.

It floats easily so I move it to a bucket to soak out the first of 4 cleanings.

We start to wonder (down right question) the whole “it’ll be easy” instructions. Dual laptops begin watching every You Tube video about washing alpaca fleece we can find. We’re experiential learners, in other words we learn by trial and error with a heavy emphasis on ‘error’.

I move into the family room to continue ‘skirting’ (official fleece word for getting the crap bits out of the fleece) while watching more You Tube videos.

My Loving Spouse heads to Freddy’s to pick up the much needed bags prior to putting the first bit of skirted fleece in the washer for a spin dry. As I pull the fleece apart you can see the dirt fall out.

We spin the fleece dry and lay it out by the fire on top of an old screen.

We’ve only cleaned about 1/6th of the first bag, unbeknownst to My Loving Spouse.

‘Why did you empty all the fleece at the same time?’, he asked.

“I didn’t”, I explained. “This is just one bag.”

‘Oh…how many more bags are there…?’

“Eight.”

‘Ohhhhh…..’

We’ll be hosting a fleece skirting, bit picking party soon…you’re all invited.

There will be adult beverages, I promise

and we’ll all be blessed.