Sheep

Nearly all the wool we buy comes from the fleecy coats of sheep.  The sheep are usually shorn of their fleece each spring.

Nearly all the wool we buy comes from the warm, woolly hair that covers the bodies of sheep.

The coat of wool from a full-grown sheep is called a fleece.

Once a year, usually in the spring, the sheep are given a haircut and all the fleece is sheared off.  The fleece is packed in bates and then sent to market.

When the fleece arrives at the woolen mill, it is sorted according to fineness and length and thoroughly washed to remove all the dirt and crease.

After it has been dried, the clean wool goes to a carding room.  Here, large, revolving cylinders with wire teeth straighten the soft, fluffy wool and comb it into a filmy sheet.

Next, the carded wool is drawn into soft, loose “ropes”  called rovings.  The wool rovings then go to the spinning room where machines twist them into yarn.

The woolen yarn is now ready to be woven into cloth. – Dick Rogers