I am currently enthralled with 2 new fleece – California Variegated Mutant  – the multi colored offshoot of Romeldale sheep.  Wouldn’t it be fun to own a “badger face” sheep that gives you a range of tones within the same fleece?

I’ve just spread out the raw grey fleece on a sheet to have a look at the underside before I begin washing small batches.  This 1st fleece resembles a sky of stormy clouds; in varying shades of grey from darkest to nearly white

Isn’t it marvelous?  No more wishing for natural greys to needlefelt creations:  I’ve got a good range of tones right here.  Suppose I want to make a mouse, possum, sheep, wolf, koala, whale, etc etc?  Surely here are all the grey tones i could want.  Below:  the yellowish tinge will wash out.  It’s just a bit of dust, sweat and lanolin.  You can tell by the slightly blunted tips that the sheep was coated to keep vegetation out of the wool.

Top left: there was only that one tiny spot of black; the equivalent of a human freckle, I suppose.  And here is the whole range of greys in my pretty fleece.  Eeeeeeh!  I’m dancing with delight and eager to work with grey wool!

Here is an example of a CVM sheep, so you’ll see the reason for their multicolor coats.  Click these links to see grey CVM, and here a creamy beige CVM, most similar to my fleece.

Here’s the creamy CVM fleece.  I don’t really know whether to call it cream or the lightest color of the foam atop a perfect latte.  It does tend toward a grey-ish on the darkest bits, so… taupe?

And check out that crazy wonderful {{{ crimp! }}}

Ya know, I should give a happy shout out to FIBER FIRST FARM in Washington, from whom I purchased both these beautiful fleece.  These delightful folk make the trek every February to our local small Spring Fiber Sale in Oregon City, and I love, love, love the quality of their wool!  Of course, telling you about them means somewhat less wool for ME, but they’ve got plenty so… I’ll share.