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>Because the competitors are spinning wool that hasn't been processed, it still has lanolin in it. This makes the wool greasier and more difficult to spin, so t
by Isamu 3y ago
>Because the competitors are spinning wool that hasn't been processed, it still has lanolin in it. This makes the wool greasier and more difficult to spin, so the ideal is finding a sheep with less lanolin to begin with.
Ha! Exactly what I was thinking when I clicked on the story. Your hands are covered with lanolin just from handling raw wool after shearing. I still have a wool blanket from those days.
- codesnik 3y agoI wonder if it's possible to wash the sheep with a shampoo or something before the competition.
- kaikai 3y agoThe lanolin helps lubricate the shearing blades, and you need to be very careful washing wool so it doesn’t felt. Show sheep get shampooed but their fleeces are trimmed short first.
- Gordonjcp 3y ago*Everything* is covered in lanolin when you're shearing. I used to wear my scruffiest most ripped zip burst no buttons tied around my waist with string jeans while shearing (in particular while bringing sheep out from the pens to be shorn). I'd wear them for the whole week we were shearing, and then just burn them. There's no way you're rehabilitating anything you wore that week into an item of clothing you can wear in public.