This is a score card we have developed for handspinners for judging the quality of fleeces.  It is very hard for a buyer over the internet to determine the quality  of a fleece from a picture.  What is important to handspinning is often not related to commercial production of wool.  

( A note on points, 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest)

Judging Categories:

1.  Cleanliness:  For a high yielding fleece these items should be at a minimum.

2.   Quality:  Important things to know about when fleece buying.

3.  Character:  This is the part of the fleece that "calls your name".

4.  Uniformity of grade and crimp  ____   (1-10)

Number four is probably of the least importance to the handspinner, this item retains its importance in judging the fleece against the standards of the breed of sheep.  We have included it on the website because this is the actual scorecard we developed for show judging and is the standard in use at the Heart of America Fleece Show.

Glossary of Terms used on the Scorecard

Brightness and Color:  (brightness) light appearing clean wool (color) clear definition of color.  Not muddy or undefined.   

Crimp:  The natural waviness of the wool fiber.  Often the (crimp count ) refers to the amount of crimps in an inch.  A higher count will produce a yarn with a better memory.

Dirt:   Dirt or sand present in the fleece will add weight to the fleece that you pay for but cannot spin.     

Foreign Matter:  Probably the worst enemy of the handspinner.  Vegetable matter present in the fleece that cannot be washed out.  In order to prepare a fleece with excessive foreign matter you can sit down and get comfortable picking out "fm" for an hour or three.  Many fleeces with excessive "fm" have become stuffing for pet beds from irritated handspinners.  M & M Livestock will not buy, sell or ship fleeces with excessive "fm" THIS IS MY GUARANTEE!! (Loris)

Handle:  Also known as "hand".  Simply, how soft it feels to you.

Luster:  How the fleece shines or shows color.  Our fleeces are of such high luster that we have had to relearn how to take pictures so the refracted light doesn't glare so much in the picture that you can't see the fiber.

Matting:  When wool has felted or stuck together.  Anyone that sells a matted fleece should be ashamed of themselves.  Matting is relatively easy to remove from the fleece and the person that leaves it there when they sell it is just increasing the weight of the fleece at the handspinners expense.

Staining:  Usually caused by manure, marking crayons or paints and even in some cases by high oxide clays. (red clay)  Any fleece that is excessively stained will be washed and sold as a finished fiber by M & M Livestock.

Strength:  How much force is required to break the fiber.  In this case strength refers to a lack of (break) in the fleece and no unusual weakness in the fleece.

Tips:  Wool in which the tip portion of the fiber has been so damaged by natural weathering as to have a markedly different dyeing property from the root portion of the wool.  This primarily is a concern on white fleeces.  On colored fleeces there will always be a color differential but dyeing is not a concern with these,  the variegations in color add to the beauty of the fleece.  What is a concern is the strength of the tip of the fiber.  We always judge on the strength of the fiber from root to tip.  M & M Livestock will never sell a tippy fleece, I throw them away, you will never receive a tippy fleece from me. (Loris)