Meet Mary Jane.  Mary Jane is a Lincoln ewe that lives in Montana.  Her owner is Cory of  Cory's Lincoln Longwools.  Please feel free to contact Cory if you are interested in and of their wonderful fleeces.

Please note, that Mary Jane's wool was stunningly clean.  Josh decided to do this report AFTER I had already started the washing process, so what is shown here is what was skirted off her.

Into the washer went the wool.  This shows already clean wool, but it usually takes about 3 washings and then some rinsing to get the lanolin and dirt out of the fleece and that's due to MY washing machine.  This fleece was already very nice since it was coated.

Once the wool was washed, it went into the dye pot.

After it was dyed, it went into the drying rack for about 2 days until completely dry.

Then then wool was run through the drum carder a few times to combine the colors and "comb" the wool.

Once it was run through the carder, small bats were made (about an ounce each) and made ready for spinning.

This is what the wool looks like after it is spun into a single as it becomes yarn.

This is what the hat looked like after it was knitted.  There is actually a styrofoam head hiding underneath the hat.

After several washings in hot water, the hat shrunk and became a stiff "fabric" and was shaped into the hat.