I've enough of a stash of Valais Blacknose wool now that it should be possible to have it spun into yarn; my plan is to get both yarn (single) in around 1 mm diameter, and a bit of the same stuff as two-ply yarn suitable for nalbinding (or knitting). The single would then be suitable for weaving a medium-quality, common type of wool fabric with about 10 threads per cm, something very hard to get these days.
Before sending it in, though, the wool has to be sorted - there are some bits of the fleeces not suitable for going into the yarn. Either because there's too much small vegetable matter in the part, or the wool bits are not a good enough quality (the areas around the sheep's bum may have yellowed or browned and brittle fibres, and those are tossed out), or there are second cuts (which are very short fibres, and thus something not wanted at all in a good yarn). So there I sit now, sorting the wool - and I'm quite curious to see how much I will end up with once I'm through the stack.
Some of it will, of course, stay unspun (so that the shop will stay stocked), and the carded wool will also still be available. But, if everything goes according to plan, I will have yarns too! The yarn price will then depend on how much ends up spun, how much of that is plied, whether the wool will have to be washed before processing (I'm sending in the washed fleeces, as I don't store them in the dirt, but as my washing is very gentle, there remains some lanolin. Depending on the machines and the exact processes, that may have to be removed). So things remain exciting, and interesting...
And of course, the cat helps with her own unique brand of quality control:
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Spot the cat!