Made in the Shade

Seeing Kergord sitting in the shade of the run-in, rather than basking in the sun like all the other animals on the farm, brought back a memory—Four years ago this February, I was tasked with the job of processing the wool for the Kentucky Cloth Project. Although just in its planning phase, this project was testing the idea of growing hemp for a fabric. Kentucky grown hemp would be combined with Kentucky sheep’s wool.

Close to 100 pounds of wool was brought to me to wash, pick, and lightly card. The wool was from a few farms near Paris, KY. The wool was beautiful even before it was cleaned. The staple lengths were perfect, there were no “second cuts”, it was relatively debris-free, and the wool itself felt so soft!

The raw wool arrived in burlap sacks. Each sack weighed almost 50 pounds. The shepherds had already “skirted” (pulled away the very dirty or heavily debrised) wool before giving it to me.

I divided the wool into piles so that I could begin to see how many loads I would need to wash. Each of the above baskets was then subdivided.

And then, the washing began. It took several weeks and a LOT of hands-on work!

Each load was washed several times, until it finally rinsed clean.

To dry the wool, I spread it out on coated wire racks and/or screens. Once it was dry, I put it back into baskets to wait for the next step, which was boxing it all and shipping it to a fiber mill in California (as directed).

The Fiber Shed in Geronimo, California was going to blend the Kentucky wool that I sent with Kentucky hemp that someone else was in charge of sending (smiles).  A large fiber mill in New York state also helped them. The hemp fiber needed to be cleaned and soften without being compromised (weakened). I think that was a challenge for them.

Several months later, they sent me fiber samples of the wool/hemp combination— both the final fabric and the attempts along the way. Apparently it will be a durable fabric used for canvas shoes, luggage, etc.

It was such a fun experience…and one I haven’t thought of for several years! But, as Kergord is panting in the shade while the January temperatures aren’t really that mild, it reminds me that shearing season is coming soon…but definitely not yet!!   (smiles)