Kim Caulfield of Far Out Farm in Cornersville, TN gifted me with some lovely sheared locks from a Cotswold sheep Saddleback several years ago. She challenged me to “play”, doing something wonderful with them. But then life took a turn and several years passed. That was then and now is now, and I am ready to “play”.
What reminded me of these locks awaiting the challenge is that I had written last week about the Fleece Piece Keeper sort and wash bags. Those mesh bags made the job of washing the locks in small batches to preserve the structure so easy. Actually I had washed the locks almost immediately after I received the batch of locks from Kim.
Then carefully laid the bundles of locks out in layers on towels. Much later after everything was thoroughly dried, I rolled the towels carefully, again carefully so as to not disturb the lock structure. Those rolled bundles of towels with their treasure is what awaits me now.
I’m so glad I could find some photos of the initial fleece and washing so that I might document this journey. Even though the journey is already a long one with my temporarily setting aside the project!
Coincidentally, Joe Zachry over at The Fleece Report is featuring Cotswold this month. In his report, he explains “Typically the Cotswold is found in natural white, however, there is a recessive genetic note which produces a black sheep (with the long locks of various shades of greys with a delightful tint of umber)”. And that is obviously what I have here. Just beautiful.
I think these locks are just so lovely by themselves. I wish you could be here to admire and touch them in person. Although I have a bunch of dyed Cotswold, I still think the nuances of natural colors within the locks is just breath-taking. i.e. God’s colors.
I’m thinking of doing some kind of tail-spun yarn. But then what? Or maybe just weave the locks into a hand-woven tapestry?
* Play, fondle, admire; repeat from *. Am I in an infinite loop? Can you help me decide what these lovely Cotswold locks will become?
These are so beautiful. Is there enough for a shawl? Or a shrug, perhaps. Some way you could concentrate the more tinted section and work out to lighter (or vice versa)?