Shetland Fleece Part 2

Yay!! It's here!  My two Shetland fleeces finally came in the mail.  Here is the first unrolled in my living room...

 Gorgeous locks!

I test washed about 4 ounces of this today and it is now drying.  The fleece itself is impeccably clean, however, I think I didn't get all the lanolin out.  Eh, glad I did a test wash.

Does anyone know, judging by the last picture if this fleece has guard hairs?  I think it has a few dark grey-black guard hairs, but I'm not sure as I've never seen them in person.  Anyone?

Fleece Washing Day

Sunday was the perfect weather for fleece washing.  It was sunny, windy, not too hot, and not humid at all!  Perfect fleece drying weather.  I got started washing a fleece that I was totally lucky enough to be given from friends of the family.  I'm not sure what breed the sheep is that this fleece came off.  It has about a 2-3 inch staple, fine crimps, and is very soft.  If anyone has any idea what breed this might be, please let me know!

The dirty fleece:

Since the fleece is decades old, I was nervous about washing it.  I had read that old fleece is difficult to wash since the lanolin and dirt kind of solidifies.  I washed about a pound of it at a time in super hot water with a glug of Dr. Bronners.  Here it is soaking:

I washed it twice, then rinsed twice. Let me tell you, I must have mad skillzzzz!  This puppy came squeaky clean.

Squeaky clean and drying!

Now, the question is, to card or to comb?  Any suggestions?

Shetland Fleece

Check it out!  I ordered two fleeces!!!!  My original plan was to buy one Shetland fleece to spin up for my cuz to be knit into a sweater.  Well, I can't buy an awesomely gorgeous fleece for her, and not for muah!  So, two fleeces it was.  I ordered the fleeces from a farm in Oregon from these sheep.

OMG! How adorable are they?!  I can't wait for them to come in the mail!!!!!!