FINNSHEEP Raw Fleece, Olivia 2022, 2 pounds 15.6 ounces, fawn, free shipping

This is Olivia’s 2022 Raw Fleece. Olivia is a purebred finnsheep that was coated/ jacketed most of the year. Very low on VM (vegetable matter- hay, straw, grass from the pasture). There are a few small bits in her fleece alone the spine area. It still is a very low vm fleece and very much show quality. I skirted it myself. I’m a hand spinner as well as a shepherd. I dislike VM as much as the next spinner…in fact, maybe more so. I get a little ruthless about skirting and removing VM so you are only getting nice wool with Point of View Farm fleeces. It weighs 2 pounds 15.6 ounces. Olivia puts her genetics to work into growing some FINE crimp in her fleeces. Her sibling, Olympia does the same thing. They are peas in a pod those two. They are last ewe lambs we kept from their dam Olive who is now retired to live out her years here on the farm as a wool producer and companion.

Raw fleece means it has not been washed yet so it will smell like a sheep and need washing either before or after spinning. The fleece was carefully and professionally shorn off Olivia New Zealand style (in a single piece) by a shearer who takes pride in his work, is careful, gentle and knows what he is doing. This shearer has shorn award winning fleeces at Rhinebeck and Maryland Fleece show and sales for many years for our farm and others. He has been shearing sheep for decades and is a good friend too. Check out the photos of it I took while it was on the skirting table. Both sides and all angles are pictured.

Olivia was born at Point of View Farm in 2017. Her technical color genetics are a brown based agouti blue. She is registered as a brown badgerface. In lay terms, that means she has both a color and a pattern genes. The pattern (agouti blue) ‘makes’ portions of her brown fleece lighter, mostly the saddle area. Since this is the wool area you purchase when you buy a coated fleece from us much of what is in the bag is her lighter colored fawn wool (and why is is labeled as so). It is a creamy light color. Not white but, very very light. Generally, the brown portions of her fleece have been skirted off. These are the less desirable wool areas on a sheep including the belly, britch and neck which are often, short, dirty or not as soft. There is a little brown wool in the fleece bag though so you will get some variation in color.  If you don’t want that, just pull that part and set aside for another project when processing.

Finnsheep fleece takes dye like a dream and would also blend beautifully with other wools where you want to add luster and drape. It is also known to felt quite nicely.

If you prefer washed wool for your project, please check out the Point of View Farm roving.