The Whorling Weaver

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

Celebration Time🥳🎉🥳🧶🐑

08/25/2026

A Milestone Worth Celebrating! 🎉🐑
My first fleece is officially scoured!
It might seem like a small step, but for my Sheep to Blanket project, this feels like a BIG one. ❤️
This fleece started out dirty, full of lanolin, and straight from the sheep. After sorting, soaking, washing, rinsing, and a whole lot of patience… I now have clean wool ready for the next stage.
And honestly? There’s something pretty special about seeing that transformation happen right in front of me.
One fleece down.
A whole lot more work ahead.
And one step closer to turning sheep fleece into a blanket. 🐑➡️🧶➡️🧺
Next up: combing!
I think this milestone deserves a little celebration. 🎉
Handspun Handspinning WoolCraft FiberArtist FiberArts NaturalFibers SlowCraft SheepWool WoolLove TheWhorlingWeaver

08/19/2026

The tools l can’t do without 🐑🧶

Scouring fleece may look pretty simple, but having the right tools makes the process so much easier.

These are some of the things I reach for every time I’m scouring my wool. Nothing fancy—just tools that have proven themselves useful along the way.

I’m working through three fleeces for my Sheep-to-Blanket project, and there’s a LOT of wool to process! 😅

And because I’m also working a full-time, nightshift position, this project is definitely happening a little at a time, whenever I can fit it in.

Slow progress is still progress. ❤️

What’s one tool you wouldn’t want to be without when working with wool? ⬇️

08/12/2026

Scouring wool! 🐑❤️

08/12/2026

From raw fleece to clean locks!🐑🧶

Another step in my “Sheep to Blanket” journey is underway!

Before I can to this wool into yarn, the fleece needs a good scour. But honestly, one of my favorite parts happens before the washing even begins.

I love sorting through the fleece. There’s something about the feel of the lanolin on my hands and the unmistakable smell of raw wool that I really, absolute enjoy. It’s a reminder that this project is starting with a real fleece—not a ball of commercially prepared yarn from the store. 🐑❤️

Of course, along with the lanolin, raw fleece also has dirt, dust and vegetable matter, and sometimes poo 💩, so it needs a good scour before I can move on to combing.

Watching those locks go from dirty and greasy to clean, soft and fluffy is so satisfying!

Now that I have some dry locks, it’s time for the next step…..

Combing!

Three fleeces. Many steps. One blanket.
Follow along as I continue turning raw wool into something made completely by hand. 🐑➡️🧶➡️🧺

07/22/2026

More Dye Experimentation 🌼🧶
After making these dye baths a while back, I froze them because I didn’t yet have the time—or the mordant—I needed to continue. This week I finally had both!
I thawed my dye baths and prepared three small test skeins from my fiber stash: two Romney skeins and one mohair skein, weighing a total of 74 grams (about 2.6 ounces). Using the standard 20% weight of fiber, I dissolved 14 grams of alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) in boiling water and added it to my mordant bath. The yarns soaked at around 175°F for an hour before cooling.
First up was the marigold dye bath. I was hoping for a cheerful yellow, so I added the two Romney skeins and let them gently simmer for an hour before leaving them to soak overnight.
The next morning, after several rinses to remove the excess dye, I was rewarded with a gorgeous, vibrant yellow! Even better, there’s still plenty of dye left in the pot, so I’ll refrigerate it and see what other shades I can create next week.
Next came the black-eyed Susan dye bath. I added the mordanted mohair, simmered it for an hour, then allowed it to cool before washing and rinsing.
This is where natural dyeing reminded me that it’s always full of surprises.
I expected a warm golden yellow…but instead, the mohair emerged a beautiful soft sage green! 🌿
That’s one of my favorite things about natural dyes. Every fiber, every plant, every mordant, and every dye bath has its own personality. You can plan, experiment, and make educated guesses—but nature always has the final say.
Which color is your favorite—the sunny marigold yellow or the unexpected sage green? 💛💚

07/12/2026

What wool am I using for my Sheep to Blanket project?

Cheviot! And here are a few reasons why I chose it.

Cheviot wool has a longer staple length. The Cheviot fleece I chose has an average staple length of about 5 inches, making it an excellent fiber for combing. While I won’t be combing the entire fleece, the majority of it will be.

I also want to waste as little fiber as possible. The leftover fiber from the first combing will be combed a second time to remove any remaining vegetable matter (VM) and shorter fibers. What remains after that will be carded using my hand carders or drum carder, giving those shorter fibers another purpose. Almost nothing will go to waste.

Cheviot is considered a medium wool, making it a durable, resilient fiber that’s well suited for blankets, sweaters, hats, and many other wearable items. It has a bold, well defined crimp that is uniform from butt to tip, making it a pleasure to prepare and spin. While it isn’t as soft as some fine wools, it’s still comfortable enough for many next to skin projects.

One characteristic I find especially interesting is that Cheviot is not easily felted. That leaves me wondering…will that make my blanket more difficult to full once it’s woven? I guess we’ll find out together!

A little more about the breed…

According to The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius, the Cheviot breed is most closely associated with the Cheviot Hills along the border of Scotland and England. Legend says the breed may have descended from sheep that survived the wreck of a Spanish ship and eventually thrived in the rugged hills, although its exact origins aren’t certain.

Today, Cheviot sheep are raised primarily for meat, but they also produce beautiful fleeces weighing 5–10 pounds, with a typical clean wool yield of 50-60%.

I’m excited to see this fleece transform from raw wool into a finished woven blanket, and I hope you’ll enjoy following along with every step of the journey.