Well, ok, I have the outer covering of a sheep. It is a sheared but otherwise unprocessed fleece from a Jacob sheep from the Double Z Ranch in Oregon. It is mostly white, with some large blotches of medium-light brown and dark grey. It’s not a terribly fine fleece, and has some guard hairs in it as well, which will make it perfect for the project I had in mine — i.e., a decorative mat/trivet type thing. This fleece is about four pounds, so I’ll try to spin up the rest of it nice and strong for a warm shawl or something. I have never bought an unprocessed fleece before. I think this will be a good one to start with because it’s not too fine, and is already fairly clean. It definitely smells like a sheep and is greasy, but it isn’t all sticky and disgusting like some grease wool I’ve seen. This may, however, be partly due to the fact that we’re in the middle of a heat wave and I’m sure the apartment is above the melting point of lanolin. I’ll do a test wash of a handfull in the sink, and then when I’ve got the technique down, I’ll do the rest in the bathtub.
Also, Jacob sheep are really nifty. They are intriguingly spotted, adorably compact, and can have up to six horns.
Suburban Entwife 
Batshua said,
June 11, 2008 @ 7:46 am
Hooray for the Jacob sheep!
*bounces joyfully*
debka_notion said,
June 12, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
That description at the end was completely enticing to my curiosity. Now I go to do some research on Jacob sheep, and think cheerfully about the relevant bible story.
limesarah said,
June 13, 2008 @ 1:31 am
Yeah, I knew about the sheep before I knew about the Bible story, so I was *really excited* when I found out why they were called that. :-)