Skirting your Fleeces
Skirting
Skirting consists of removing areas of inferior wool
quality from a fleece to ensure a higher quality end product.
Ideally, this is done directly after the animal is
sheared.
Belly wool should be removed from the fleece during
shearing. Take the fleece and throw
it, cut side down, onto a skirting table (see link below).
Now remove all off colour wool, tags, very short and matted fibre, and
any (hay) contaminated areas. Roll
both sides of the fleece into the middle and then roll the fleece together from
one end to the other. Voila!
Sorting
Sorting is of particular importance for alpaca fleeces. The quality of alpaca fibre varies considerably. It is therefore preferable to keep the higher quality fibre (the saddle area) separate from the other fibre (neck, leg and belly areas). This prevents the top quality fibre from being degraded by the lower quality fibre. Each type can then be used separately to produce quality end products.
Helpful Links
Skirting table construction instructions
http://www.hawksmountainranch.com/skirtingtableinstructions.html
Diagram
of areas to skirt from sheep fleece
http://www.knitting-and.com/spinning/graphics/skirting.gif
Very
extensive information about many types of fibre animals
http://www.fao.org/docrep/v9384e/v9384e00.htm#con
