Thanks Andrew, and Jacob !!!

[Joules]

As it's warm and sunny here Jacob is taking a bath.....   Well it will be few baths, the garden is going to go wild with the bath water.  Dry out in the greenhouse later.  Then alot of carding to clean the wool up.

[awemawson]

Glad that it arrived safely - save the lanonin to stop your tools rusting.

[Joules]

A very quiet day at the office, so filling some time carding this fleece.   Start off hand carding with what look like square spikey table tennis bats.  Then once an amount of crud has been removed and the fleece untangled some it goes through the drum carder.   This is the first and maybe second pass before they are saved up for the washing machine in a pillow case.   The first wash was just water, all the fleece will then be dried again and carded for a final time.   The knotty bits end up in the felting bag for someone to work their magic on later.

[NormanV]

I used to live in the Falkland Islands and was friends with a sheep farmer, I once spent an enjoyable afternoon assisting at shearing time. As a complete novice I was given the job of baling up the odd bits that fell off the fleeces. My hands have never been softer thanks to all the lanolin.

[awemawson]

I understand the Jacobs Lambs (so called for their coats of many colours - a biblical referance) are prized for their wool. The meat is also good but they need to be run somewhat longer than other breeds - even maybe up to being hogets -  as they sre fairly small.

. . . still they are born with a wish to die in the most difficult circumstances !