A Yarn is Born Part 1

This is showing part of the process I use when making yarn out of a shorter staple wool than pure Wensleydale. This wool in half bred Wensleydale and although it has a longer staple than most types of fleece I can pass it through the drum carder.
The first photo shows two colours that I have chosen for this yarn.  The red was from different dye lots and I have blended them while carding to make sure that the finished yarn is a uniform colour.
In the next I have blended 3 different red batts and  1 black
In the last 2 it shows the fibre ready for spinning,   I have passed the batt through the drum carder a final time to try and disperse the black more evenly through the red.  The more often the fibre is carded the smoother the yarn should spin.

Wensleydale Locks not Teeswater

Lilac locks which are more of my 'cloud'  series.   These are dyed in a steamer in the microwave and have a fair amount of the lock left in its natural white.  In this case it is a little yellow as it is difficult to get the last of the yellow out of the wool using gentle wash products.  All comes from my sheep living a happy life out in the field.
I am posting this as I want to point out that my sheep are pedigree  Wensleydales not Teeswater which is a separate breed.  I have noticed recently that people are selling locks that they call Wensleydale but are tagging them Teeswater and the other way round , not possible.  The sheep above are some of my year old 'hoggets' just before shearing.  These sheep produce the longest and best quality locks