Over the past few weeks, I’ve been concentrating on washing fleeces and spinning them into yarn. So far I’ve spun up the Shetland, Blue Faced Leicester, several colours of Jacob, Leicester Longwool, Zwartbles, Suffolk, Romney, and Dorset Down.
Handspun yarns using local wools
I also processed the Grey Faced Dartmoor; not a fleece usually made into handknitting yarns. The yarn I produced from it had the look and feel of sisal so I also mixed it with some alpaca to soften it. I now have sheep that represent two extremes of fleece; Bowmont, which is the finest quality and fantastically soft, and then the Grey Faced Dartmoor which is thick and coarse. I took some photos of the GF Dartmoor as I was combing it to show how like hair it is. I’m planning to do some more experimenting with this fleece, not spinning it but finding a way to showcase it more, perhaps felting?
Grey Faced Dartmoor uncombed and combed
