Fiber Arts Friday - Fleece to FO

Welcome to Fiber Arts Friday!  This week I've been busy getting fleeces that I sorted ready to take to the Regional Collection Farm in Ohio for the NAAFP.  Actually, I am sitting in my hotel room typing this after I delivered the sorted fleece to our RCF, Jody.

I learned quite a few things about this visit including that if you want something done right, do it yourself.

I thought I was the bomb getting all the fleeces together for my sorting clients to take to Jody.  What I didn't realize is that some of the bags were mis-labeled and I hadn't sucked enough air out of them for proper storage.  What should have taken an hour or less to complete took close to four.  I have to admit that I'm glad that I decided to drive the fleeces to the RCF instead of mailing because I learned so much plus Jody and I were able to work together to correct my errors.  It was "easy" sorting the fleeces but you have to follow through with all the paperwork to get the finished products.

Now all my clients fleeces are checked in at the RCF and ready to go into production.  HOORAY!

Next time and from now on I know how to properly label and organize my sorts. When you have multiple farms with multiple year or sort dates it's very important to be organized.

I also learned that in future sorts, I will handpick the assistants at the farms instead of taking whomever the farm gives me.  I had one person who made many errors in the note taking that could have cost that farm a lot of money if I hadn't caught it.  When it comes to shearing, we don't just want bodies, we want bodies that are going to do a good job,  As I get better at fiber sorting I won't need a scribe to take notes on what I find in the fleeces.  Practice, Practice, Practice...right now I am working on sorting bags of fleeces from farms who either didn't have me sort for their 2010 harvest or who had prior years fleeces sitting around wasting away. What I learned from today is that as soon as I finish sorting and have my results back from my instructor that I will re-label the bags and prep them to mail to the RCF...no more waiting for all the farms to be done before entering.

Finally...I've decided that I like the Greater-Cleveland Area.  It's true, Cleveland Rocks!  The drive was so boring along the toll road until I reached Cleveland then the hills and rocks along with trains changed up the scenery.  I also noticed that this part of Ohio has a lot of winding roads too which are fine during the day but not fun at night during the rain (I speak of I-30)

So that's a quick summery of my trip to Lana Bella Alpaca Farm.  Oh...you should check out Jody's website too because she has some really neat items in her farm store including hats and gloves that she makes.  I liked the felted mittens so much that I bought a pair for myself.  Geez, I live in Michigan so of course I would start thinking about Winter in August.  Now, share what adventures in Fiber Arts you had this week!
Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

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NOT 

http://wonderwhyalpacafarm.blogspot.com

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