It's a Variegated Mutant!

CVM Lock
Originally uploaded by Velma's World

Yep, that's right, a California Variegated Mutant. No, no, not ME, the WOOL! Today I carefully scoured some caremel-colored locks of a CVM/Merino cross fleece to send to a friend in Australia, & this be them.

Not familiar with CVM? Let me tell you all about it, then! CVMs are a badger-faced color variation of Romeldale, which itself is a cross of Rambouillet with Romney. CVM is therefore quite soft & fine: ~60-64 on the Bradford Scale & approximately 20-25 microns, with an exceptionally fine crimp. First bred in California (hence the name), CVM is fairly uncommon, but I'm lucky to have a friend in my local fiber guild that raises the breed; this fleece came from one of her sheep. (Visit the American Romeldale/CVM Association website for more info).

I only processed a bit of the fiber to send out, as I really abhor scouring (somewhat allergic to lanolin; ironic, huh?), particularly with wool as fine as this which wants to felt if looked at crosswise; I'm putting the rest of the raw fleece into my Etsy shop. I will also be offering a very dark brown, almost black fleece as well.

Besides several hours of work cleaning this wool, I also put away my outdoor dye studio in anticipation of tomorrow's predicted rains. Now I need to figure out if I want to schlep all that stuff in & out to suit the weather this winter, or if I can/want to set up in the garage. Hmmm... Finally, Cole & I shook most of the apples out of our tree today, trying to beat that rain; time to figure out what to do with 3 bushels of apples! All in all a very productive day. See what happens when you don't spend all your time on Twitter, Velma?

Tags: wool, CVM, fiber