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Posts Tagged ‘Zwartbles’

Wool Directory

Wool Directory stand

Over the past couple of months, I have been working with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW) on developing an online Wool Directory. This has evolved from the research that I gathered through Give Fleece A Chance. The Wool Directory lists South West wool producers with the aim of connecting them more easily with people who want to use local fleece.
To promote the Directory, we have been to a couple of shows in Devon; the Devon County Show and the National Sheep Association event near Paignton. Both events went really well and we had plenty of positive feedback from producers and users alike. If you want to have a look at the Directory, you can find it here www.wooldirectory.org.uk. Use it to source SW fleece and yarn, and also to see how textile designers and makers are using wool. We’ve also got a page for events, so if you’re planning a wool themed event please let us know.

Here are some photos from the Devon County show. I’ve put some more on our Flickr site www.flickr.com/photos/givefleeceachance where you can also see 185 knitted sheep.

Judging sheep at Devon County Show

Judging sheep at Devon County Show

Black Welsh Mountain

Black Welsh Mountain

Devon and Cornwall Longwool

Devon and Cornwall Longwool

Exmoor Horn

Exmoor Horn

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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 natural wool

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

Grey Faced Dartmoor uncombed and combed

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