|
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
7-26-12
Dusty Moon - Blanket, shear date unknown, shearer unknown, Turquoise Trail Alpacas - 3.5 lbs. White Male Samples tested Grade 2 - about a 21 micron. Very dense, brightness above average, about a 4. Wonderful architecture, beautiful crimp style. 2nd cuts not too bad, 3" - 4" staple, will process WL. As I skirted I realized this animal has quite prevalent primaries throughout. Wound up processing as WL3 - could not put it in the WL2 bin
Dusty Moon - Blanket, shear date unknown, shearer unknown, Turquoise Trail alpacas - 2.8 lbs White Male I believe this must be a "younger" fleece than the previous fleece. It is smaller and the micron is finer. Density, brightness and architecture very much the same between the two fleeces. Again, strong presence of primaries, secondary fibers grade at about a 20 micron, but primaries are strong enough to create problem with processing. Longer staple, can process as WR. Not sure what to do.
[Sorters note: I put these fleeces aside since I just couldn't decide what to do with them. In an on-line conversation, I heard Wini LeBrecque state that having fleeces dehaired works wonders and you should process fleeces like these based on the secondaries and be sure to have them dehaired. So that's what I ultimately did.]
Dusty Moon - Neck, shear date unknown shearer unknown, Turquoise Trail Alpacas - 2.8 lb.s White Male. Yep - I reweighed it - 2.8 lbs of neck fiber. Badly chopped up with second cuts - why don't the shearers get that neck fiber is perfectly useable if they don't chop it to bits! Density is off the charts - explains the weight I suspect. The fleece seems less bright than the others and the secondaries are stronger - 23-24 micron - again loaded with strong primaries. Still, I suspect this may be an "older" fleece. Short staple. Processed some to WL$, but most was trash or rug due to second cuts.
Benita - Blanket, 5-4-11, Pete Connelly - Dando Luz Alpacas - 2.6 lbs. White female. this fleece was skirted for sale and has been in the showroom for while. Solid WL4 - average brightness, Very dense, great architecture. Tips are a little brittle, negatively impacts the handle but good consistency throughout.
7-27-12
MoMo - Blanket, 5-17-12, Pete Connelly - Dando luz Alpacas - 3.8 lbs. White female. Long staple, 4" - 5", no character, more of a flat wave rather than crimp. average brightness, medium density. Much stronger micron than I was expecting because these fleece actually has a relatively nice handle. WR 4 and 5
Very Sweet Little Unknown Fleece - shear date unknown, shearer unknown, owner unknown - .9 lbs. White. I think this is a cria fleece, have no idea where it came from. BADLY chopped up with 2nd cuts - maybe a neck fleece. Grade 1, 17 - 18 microns. VERY dense, beautiful architecture, uniform crimp, good handle. 3" to 4" staple. Sure wish I knew who grew this fleece - very pretty.
Gabriella - Neck, 5-15-11, Cody Fifield - Dando Luz Alpacas - 1.2 lbs Medium Brown Female Very dirty fleece - lots of little tiny seeds. LOTS of second cuts. there are some black fibers mostly primaries but some dark secondaries. Here's a surprise - of the 4 samples pulled, 2 are like 20 microns. Other samples are a nice Grade 3...maybe a 24 micron. Not bright, above average density, 3" - 4" staple, Looking forward to the blanket
7-28-12
Cocoa Pelli - Neck, 5-5-11, Cody I think. Dando Luz Alpacas Medium Brown Female - 1.9 lbs. Horrible shearing job - tons of second cuts - staple cut in half in most places. Very dense, great architecture, above average brightness, fairly consistent Grade 2 - a real shame - this was a nice fleece.
Gabriella - Blanket, 5-15-11, Cody Fifield, Dando Luz Alpacas, Medium Brown Female - 2.5 lbs. More second cuts than there should be - surprising fineness. Mostly Grade 2, 3" - 4" staple, very poor architecture, no crimp, no brightness, very soft handle. Primaries are relatively small. I wonder if the fineness and the poor architecture contributed to the second cuts - no bundles, no crimp - it was "floppy" on the animal. Just a theory, but I do find that second cuts seem to be more prevalent in the finest sections of fleeces, especially if there's inconsistency in the micron.
|