I have managed to spin up quite a few skeins this past month. We are emigrating end of August and apart from having so much to organise, I have so much on my mind, and I find turning to spinning is a good time to think things through and it is so incredibly therapeutic. All those concerns slip through the fingers and result in some creativity, something beautiful, and more plans thought through!
Here are my recent spins from left Whiteface Dartmoor (white), North Ronaldsay(light grey), Mohair (darker grey) Zwartbles (black with brown specks) and Hebridean (black). What I was interested in with my choice of wools in this lot was the different personalities, textures. The mohair was an already processed tops and whilst it was so soft and easy to spin, really nothing compares to the satisfaction of spinning raw wools and experiencing their different characteristics.
The Whiteface Dartmoor is one of the most ancient of British sheep breeds and is currently on the at risk list. It is a lustrous longwool and I was so happy with the resulting yarn. I expected a coarser yarn and I was pleasantly surprised. The longwool was so easy to spin, so white and drafted so easily. I have seen it recommended for carpets but this is fine and simply gorgeous. Maybe I got lucky with a fantastic fleece!
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| Whiteface Dartmoor |
North Ronaldsay was next. The little seaweed eating rare breed which and I was interested in spinning this up as this fleece has two layers - the soft, short undercoat and the longer, coarser guard hairs. Spun together, the resulting yarn is so full of character. Not soft enough to knit up in garments yet gorgeous for another texture type project.
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| North Ronaldsay |
I am hoping to spin up enough Zwartbles to knit a jumper for my husband. The fleece is black/brown is lighter sunbleached tips which results in a lovely specked yarn. Full of character for a jumper.
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| Zwartbles |
And lastly the Hebridean - another Scottish rare breed. This was a lovely dark black and another double coat although I couldn't really differentiate between the two layers easily with the wool I spun. Mine seemed mostly to be the courser hairlike top coat!. Whilst I am not sure what I will use this skein for(it is mostly used for hardwearing items), the fleece appealed to me because it was a lovely deep black and an interesting spin. It spun very easily but felt more hairy, frizzy, rather than woolly and I love the look of the sheep!
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| Hebridean |
Besides this lot, I have been plugging on with the Shetland (brown and cream) I was spinning last month and have nearly spun it all up. I am also planning to try dyeing with natural indigo in the next week or so and can't wait to get to it!
The Whiteface Dartmoor is one of the most ancient of British sheep breeds and is currently on the at risk list. It is a lustrous longwool and I was so happy with the resulting yarn. I expected a coarser yarn and I was pleasantly surprised. The longwool was so easy to spin, so white and drafted so easily. I have seen it recommended for carpets but this is fine and simply gorgeous. Maybe I got lucky with a fantastic fleece!
