Saturday, December 24, 2011

The undyed wool roving sells for the same price as the beautifully dyed roving. This is nonsensical to me at first, but when you consider the degree of cleanliness and lack of staining that is necessary to offer naturally white wool (people do not typically think about this unless they have had experience with raw wool straight from the sheep) then it makes a bit more sense. There has got to be a wholesaler of off white or even stained white roving.

Another very strange thing is that I can get alpaca fiber, either the standard or the Suri alpaca, for $2 an ounce, whereas nearly any wool is $3 an ounce and up. Alpacas are far less common than sheep and more of a specialty item, so this is odd. And the thing is, it's wonderfully silky and soft! It is very nice, much silkier than any wool I have ever worked with. I might be better off buying alpaca roving and dying that, oddly enough.

And---> I got the Icelandic wool that I ordered from a seller on Etsy. It is soft and interesting and I simply cannot wait to spin it! This made my day. I nearly got into a wreck at least twice today and the day just generally sucked....and then I got this wool and the stress sort of fell away....partially at least. I must have opened up the box to look at and feel the soft ball of roving and then closed it up again at least five times and every time is just as satisfying, lol. At $12, it was a very affordable thrill. :-P

You know what.....I have friends who raise sheep, interesting sheep. One has several rare breeds and another has Icelandics. What am I doing ordering wool online? I need to contact these people about procuring wool and make it clear that I am willing to pay for it, not asking for a free fleece. I would have to wash it and it would not be roving, but I have the hand cards. It does not have to be in the roving form for me to use it.

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