How to Buy Raw Wool
- 1). Start with a map. City dwellers looking for a source of raw wool will have to look outside the city limits. Your local agricultural agent can help you locate sheep ranchers, or ask at a local spinners' and weavers' guild. Another good source for unprepared wool fleeces is a regional wool festival.
- 2). Examine the fleece. Fleeces sold at wool festivals are usually skirted, which means that the shearer removed sections of the fleece that are unusable. If you are buying directly from the rancher, the fleece is probably straight off the animal and is not skirted. This difference means that the skirted fleece is more expensive and weighs less than the whole fleece, but you have to do less work to prepare it.
- 3). Spread the fleece out and look for vegetable matter, or VM, stuck in the wool. Most fleeces will have some VM, which is straw and other organic bits, and you must remove it before spinning.
- 4). Smell the fleece. A freshly-shorn fleece smells like the animal. It does not smell musty or moldy or dusty. These smells tell you that the fleece is old or has been stored improperly.
- 5). Touch the fleece. It should feel soft and a bit greasy. Ask permission to pull off a lock to examine the crimp and shorn edge. Tug on the lock to make sure the fibers do not break.
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