British Wool - Blue Faced Leicester

Blue Faced Leicester's (BFL) are the descendants of a breeding program established in the 1700's to create a tasty meat, long wool sheep which resulted in the Dishley Longwool, commonly known as the English/Leicester Longwool today. The Leicester Longwool was created by Robert Bakewell who used modern agricultural practices of selective breeding to create a sheep that provided more meat, grew faster, longer wool, etc to make a great all-rounder sheep.  Bakewell's innovative agricultural practices actually influenced Charles Darwin regarding natural selection and evolution.Over the next 200 years the breed was developed into what it is today - the Blue Faced Leicester. While the BFL breed has been improved and gaining popularity, its ancestor the Leicester Longwool is now endangered. According to the Oklahoma State University, there is an estimated 2000 Leicester Longwools globally which is sad considering the breed was the foundation for the BFL.

Pic from www.diamondyarn.com

Now that I've depressed anyone who is reading this.. onto my experience of spinning and knitting with it!

BFL is becoming more popular due to its similarity to merino, which is good for the demand of the breed, thus increasing its sustainability. It isnt as soft as merino but is very close, it also drafts somewhat like merino but definitely easier than merino (thank god!).I've never been able to draft merino enjoyably as I find that the fibre clings to itself a fair bit and runs a higher chance of creating slubs that I then have to try and correct. Some people seem to find it easy to draft but I can find it a challenge. Anyway, the BFL is a bit similar to that as it is a fairly fine fibre.

The micron count of BFL is 24-28 and its staple reaches 6 inches.

For my samples I had 2 x Oatmeal BFL and 1 x Brown BFL;

Oatmeal BFL roving and 2 plied yarn on spindle.
Brown BFL mini skein at front.

 The yarn that the BFL made was really nice. Unfortunately this photo is the best I could do and doesn't show the sheen on the yarn.

Knitting it up was really easy and the fabric is makes is really soft and lovely. Something you could definitely wear next to the skin. Even though I only have small squares to go by, I think it would make a nice drapey knitted fabric.

I'm not sure what it is about this wool exactly, but I did like working with this more than merino (aside from the contentious relationship merino and I have when it comes to drafting) and I think that I would even pick BFL as a preference over merino. It spins easier, feels nearly as soft (if not as soft as some merino) and knits up nicely.


Stay spun!

- Mokosh

British Wool - Black Welsh Mountain

Well, I have started on my own British Wool spinning marathon to spin through my samples and have decided to go through the wool alphabetically, thus starting with the breed of Black Welsh Mountain sheep.

Picture from Life With Sheep blog.

The Black Welsh Mountain sheep, not surprisingly, come from the Black Mountains in Wales which is situated in the southeast end of Wales. Apparently this breed was bred by Benedictine Monks in the Black Mountains specifically for their black wool.

I have also been informed by my mother who has done the genealogy of the family, that my Great Grandmother came from the Black Mountains. Perhaps she spun her own Black Welsh Mountain wool from local sheep - who knows!

This breed of sheep are  the only completely black sheep amongst the British breeds. They are also catagorised as a primitive breed, which means these breeds have been untouched by recent breeding programs and can be traced back hundreds/thousands of years. A feature of primitive breeds is their coat which consists of two coats - the soft fibres further in and the harder fibres, or guard hairs, on the outside. Considering the weather these guys endure (rain, hail and snow) they need that sturdy coat.

It is noted that the meat from the Black Welsh Mountain sheep was prized in the Middle Ages for its richness and excellence. I wonder why it is not so today, considering that the breed's status is endangered you would think that if these sheep provided a tasty meat that it would then be in demand. I will have to do some further research on that. 

Pic from mutinybayfarm.com

Due to the small amount of wool I have, I decided to spin this on my Russian support spindle so that I could make a finer yarn for more yardage, as well as allow more control over the wool so I didnt mess it up as I am not too confident on my wheel yet.

 It is a lovely deep colour and has some white fibres speckled through the wool:

The roving I have, the staple was from a couple inches and hitting past 8 inches! Long staple! So a bit of a mixture of inner and outer coat. Hopefully you can make out the staple length in this pic:

Yes, yes. My photo skills aren't the greatest - but you get the point.

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy spinning wool with such a long staple. Instead, I found it so easy to draft and spin! The fibres slipped past each other very easily and I was able to make a fairly thin yarn.
Although, the micron count of this wool is between 28-35. It is fairly course when you are used to dealing with the finer fibres such as merino.

This yarn would definitely suit outerwear, and even though I have not yet attempted weaving (one day soon!) I could imagine this as a good thread for weaving.

I had two samples of this fibre, and the first sample I spun up I found that it didn't produce a particularly bouncy yarn even though the roving felt fairly airy. The first sample I spun it fairly thin so I think that has squeezed out any air in the twist. On the second sample I tried to not spin it as thin (still fairly thin though) and found that it made the yarn a bit bouncier and softer. So, I am guessing that this fibre would suite a thicker yarn weight perhaps.

Here are the final products. Two smalls samples, both 2 ply;
The mini skein on the bottom is the first sample which I spun thinner. Its WPI is 15 and 39 yards.
2nd mini skein on the top I spun a wee bit thicker. Its WPI is 12 - 13 and 32 yards. You can see the difference in the two below.

Well, I decided to knit up the sample from the yarn and was pleasantly surprised. Its not as harsh as I thought it would be and I like the fabric it knits up. I did two 4 inch by 4 inch (approx) squares, used garter stitch which is a simple way to showcase the wool and used 3.15mm needles.

I'd like to try this wool again as it was fun to spin with, easy to spin, was an interesting texture and knits up well. I did see some roving on Etsy and it was blended with baby alpaca fibre. I think that would be very nice, interesting and add extra softness.

If you have spun with Black Welsh Mountain fibre, what has been your experience?

Stay spun!

- Mokosh

British Wool Samples

I fell into temptation with some woolie fibres from Etsy again. This time I've acquired a couple of sample packs of British fibre from a store called The Double Ewe. I have previously played with some Dorset Horn and small amounts of North Ronaldsay, Merino/Shetland and Merino/BFL blends, but mainly merino or merino/silk mix.

My interest in the British breeds stems from my awareness of the conservation efforts to promote breeds aside from merino to help with biodiversity. Since merino has become the main 'cash crop' of the wool world and thus monopolising the wool market, the more historic and traditional breeds have fell to the wayside. This is has not only been the case with sheep, but with other animals and crops - known as the decline in agrobiodiversity. When one breed or food variety is capitalised upon and globalised, the biodiversity of agriculture drops when farmers don't see any point sticking with lesser wanted/known animal breeds or crops as they won't turn a profit. I won't go into why biodiversity and conservation is important because its a no-brainer... but if you don't think its important then I doubt we would get along.

Anyway, on with the wool - with less demand for the wool from traditional breeds, the number in these sheep have dropped and to the point were some are now considered 'rare' and 'at risk'. However, interest in these traditional breeds is growing somewhat, especially since awareness of the issue is growing. Mind you, this does not mean these sheep breeds are out of the woods yet. So naturally, with my interest in history, 'ye old ways' of the ancestors, social issues and social movements, I wanted to check out the other wool breeds out there and that's when I tracked down the British wool sample packs online. Hooray!

So I bought the two British Breed Wool sample packs, each with 15g of 10 samples.

British Breed Wool Sampler pack #1 consists of 15g of 10 natural shades from 4 breeds:

4 x Shetland - white, grey, moorit and black

3 x North Ronaldsay - grey, light brown, dark brown

2 x BFL - oatmeal, brown

1 natural Black Welsh Mountain - obviously black

British Breed Wool Sampler pack #2 consists of 15g of 10 different wool breeds:

Wensleydale - white

Suffolk - white

Herdwick - grey

Manx Loaghtan - brown

BFL - oatmeal

Shetland - white

Masham - brown

Black Welsh Mountain

Jacob - black

Swaledale - grey

Sure, some are double ups but that doesn't matter. At the end of spinning it all up I'll have to come up with a crochet/knitting project to use them up. Considering the Macedon Ranges can be a chilly part of Victoria, a simple scarf showcasing the wool could be nice. Also, I'll need to consider if I want the yarn in singles or plied since there are small amounts of each. Plying would reduce yardage by half. Hmmmm... things to think about. Also, to spin these samples on the spindle (for thinner thread as I am more practised on a spindle than the wheel) or the wheel (my talent on the wheel is still somewhat inconsistent)?

The owner of The Double Ewe, Jo, also threw in a wee sample of her Yorkshire blend which consists of 50% Wensleydale, 33% Baby Alpaca and 17% BFL. Oh my, its so nice! Very lustress and shiny.. I might just have to get some of that blend next (but I must remind myself - one thing at a time!). For those interested in buying the sample packs or buying from this store in general - purchasing was easy, Jo was very easy going and accommodated me wanting to update my order, and super fast shipping (arrived from the UK within the week). I know I will be a returning customer to try her other blends and batts.

As I go through spinning each sample up Ill leave a little write up a description of the fibre, how I went about spinning it, etc. So stay tuned!

Thanks again for reading!

Stay spun!

- Mokosh

The Ettrick Windwheel

I am the proud owner of an Ettrick Windwheel spinning wheel.

This lovely and simple spinning wheel has been a source of swearing, frustration and temper tantrums. It is my first, and currently my only, spinning wheel. I was fortunate enough to have it sold second hand to me for a very affordable price by my friend's husband's mother who no longer spins wool.
It is a great little wheel - it is compact, folds down so you can take it with you and has very simple mechanics. It spins via a weighted pulley system which is activated with your foot on the treadle. I found it challenging to learn because I've had to get in the rhythm  of trying to tap my foot at the right time on the treadle to keep the weight spinning while drafting out fibres. Often enough I would hit it at the wrong time and the weight would spin backwards and in turn un-spin the yarn which would then fall a part. It was like trying to rub my belly and tap my head at the same time. Hence, the source of swearing, frustration and temper tantrums.

But with persistence, I got there! Its not perfect, but I am doing it! I am drafting out fibres, I am tapping my foot on the treadle at the same time (and occasionally I tap the weight to spin backwards) and I am getting my bobbins filled! Hooray!

Luckily, I had some of the most terrible merino wool that I picked up at a local market for $6 a braid. Great way to practice spinning but only to a point, because it offers you the ability to waste wool while learning the spinning technique but it will only take you so far before the crappy quality wool actually turns into part of the learn-to-spin problem itself. It does come a time when you have to take your learning and practice to the next level with decent wool, but you become hesitant because you don't want to have to sacrifice such a lovely product to mistakes and terrible spinning. I have reconciled that the lovely wool I will spin, and to an extent will mess up, will end up as felt balls for winding yarn off my support spindles and as toys for the cats. So not all is lost.

I was curious about this wheel and where it's from because I had never seen any wheel like this before. It is a style of travel wheel which can be folded down/away for easier transport. The Ettrick Windwheel fold forward as you can see here:

After bit of an online search I've found that this wheel was designed in Australia and still made here, however, the production ownership has changed a few times. It was first created by Geoffrey Fenton in 1977 in Tasmania, then the design changed hands to Hans Kruger but I can't find the date of when, it then eventually ended up in the hands of Ettrick Wheels in Bendigo sometime before 1990 as I understand it and still have the manufacturing license and produce the Windwheel today.
The wheel I have has a patent pending stamp on the back so I speculate that it may be an original Fenton production. It is of great quality considering it is still going strong!

I found this neat, short video on youtube of the treadling motion of the Windwheel, if it provides any help to other Windwheel lovers and sufferers ;)

Does anyone else out there own one of these?

Stay spun!

- Mokosh

Alpaca Fleece - Part 1

Hello again!

Just thought I would show off some lovely raw alpaca fleece that I was able to get my hands on from a lovely couple living nearby. Four large bags of fleece from four adorable alpacas! White/cream (right), brown (front) and a lovely white/cream/brown mix (left - there is a special name for either that colour mix or the sort of alpaca it came from but for the life of my I can't remember it!). In the fourth bag up the back is a lovely dark brown but I couldn't get the bag open without ripping it.

I've never spun with alpaca wool let alone have it from square one - raw fleece that needs to be prepped! Or would square one include it being on the alpaca still? Okay, I have alpaca from square two - once it has been shorn off the alpaca.

Alpacas are gorgeous, lovely, cute, smitten, gentle, omgIjustwanttohugthemandlovethem creatures. Alpacas come from South America and are part of the camelid family (surprisingly, camels are also part of the camelid family! ;) ).

Now, with the LARGE amount of alpaca wool I have on hand... I really have to spin this lovely stuff up.

I have read two different things online; to wash or to comb? As alpaca wool has no natural grease like sheep's wool it is okay to not have to wash the wool for prep and I have read that it is fine to just card the fibre to brush out the dirt and vegetable matter. Alpacas like to had dust baths so they roll around in dirt. Mmmm, comfy. I have also read that the fleece can be washed but I'm not sure if I will do that.. its a lot of fleece and I might just comb the fleece to get the dust out and then wash/block the finished yarn.

Also, I think Ill be spinning this lot on the spinning wheel - trying to spin all of this on a support spindle would take forever! The spinning wheel will take some time as well but will be faster than a spindle.

Ill keep the Alpaca journey up-to-date as the news of the next stages break ;)

Stay spun!

-Mokosh

Picture from www.grampiansalpacas.com.au

Yakety Yak!

Photo from www.springbrook.com 

I finally got around to playing with some lovely yak down that I acquired a good 6 months ago. It is such a soft, soft, fibre!
Yak down obviously comes from the yak, a large bovine animal originating from Central Asia, Mongolia and parts of Russia. Basically, they are really hairy looking cows with bit of a hump (my explanation.. not the scientific explanation ;) ).
Any Google search of yak down will turn up that it is an extremely soft luxury fibre that is comparable to cashmere and according to Y is for Yak Down:

Yak down is 10-15% warmer than merino wool.

Yak down is similar in softness to cashmere, with a diameter ranging from 15-22 microns, but is far more durable.

Yak down is hypo-allergenic and does not scratch against the skin as do many popular wools.

Yak down remains very warm even when wet.

Yak down is extremely breathable, contributing to self-regulation of body temperature.

Yak down is very rare, adding value through interest and novelty when compared to popular and ever-present fibers such as wool or cotton.

Anyways! I only had about 50 grams of yak down. It was a sample amount to test it out and see if I could spin it. It comes as a lovely soft cloud as you can see below. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the staple, but its very short. In this particular cloud the staple length was about an inch long - very short!

To start spinning the yak down I stabbed a bit onto the spindle and just started spinning. I had often read that spinning with a luxury fibre such as yak down was hard to do, instead I found it the opposite - I found it extremely enjoyable, albeit a bit slow, but enjoyable. 

I didn't do anything to 'prep' the fibre. No combing, or fluffing. I did try to fluff it out a little bit to see if that made any difference and it just made it difficult to handle and it kept breaking off. The best prep for this fibre was no prep, I found.

The yarn it made was also lovely:

The spinning process wasn't as fast as I can do with longer stables like merino or merino/silk mix, instead it was a slower process. This was due to the short staples as it was easy enough to pull the whole cloud away from the spun yarn. Hopefully you can see in these photos how the twist goes straight into the fibre.

Excuse my cow print pajama pants :P

I always follow the rule that you never let the twist run into the fibre that you are drafting from because it turns into a twisted lumpy mess. When dealing with yak down, ignore that rule. The twist needs to go into the fibre a bit to hold all the short fibres together and then pull it out slowly. Then spin, then pull slowly, then spin, and pull slowly... and so on.

I decided to make the yak down into 2 ply. I think short staple fibres need to be plied due to possible breakage. Through the plying process the yarn broke 3 or 4 times and I had to felt the pieces back together to continue the ply. I do this by using a bit of spit (eeew? then you can use water instead but a bit of saliva won't hurt anyone) and rubbing the thread really fast between my hands. During the spinning process I was a little bit worried that I was over spinning the thread (I am often concerned that I'm over spinning my yarn, I've still yet to perfect my spinning tension). Anyway, because I was worried that I might over spin I must have under-spun the fibre since it broke a few times so I will keep that in mind next time and add those extra couple of spins that I left out this time.

In the end, I've a lovely small mini skein of yak down:

Approx 15cm in length

Close up of the yarn so you can see the ply a bit better.

There you have it. My first attempt at yak down. All in all it was fun to play with and easy enough to do.  I'd definitely have to put it up there as one of my favourite fibres. I'd like to try some yak down blended with something else in the future.

If you are hesitant about trying a luxury fibre considering some of the online buzz about how hard it is to use, just jump in the deep end like I did and spin up a smaller sample of it. It's easier than you'd expect.

Thanks for reading!

Stay spun :D

- Mokosh

Picture from Wikipedia

Meet the Girls ;)

Well, I wasn't too sure what should be my next post. I wasn't sure if I should just jump into the deep end on my current or recent projects. However, I thought that introducing my current support spindles would be an organic evolution from my introductory post.

At present, I have 4 support spindles; 2 Bulgarians, 1 Rose hybrid and 1 Russian.

The lovely antique Bulgarians

I bought 2 antique Bulgarian from a chap from *drum roll* Bulgaria on the addictive Etsy website. These two weight about 17 grams and the one on the right has charming wormwood holes on the surface.

I am not too sure how old these beauties are. I am guess-timating at least 100 years due to comparison with other available Bulgarian spindles that are available online, which are stated to be about a century old and do not show as much stress or age on the wood, as well as the painted stripes that frequent Bulgarian spindles are not as faded as the paint stripes on these two I purchased.
The tops of the spindles have had the little bulbous bit at the top shaved off that is commonly seen on this style of spindle (and I admit, I've yet to try spinning with one of those... I would imagine it would get in the way of spinning supported, or it is meant to be used with a half hitch for suspended spinning perhaps?).
In regards to spinning, these spindles actually work very well! I was a wee bit surprised when I tried them out  but they do just fine once you give them a spin. I will eventually get around to purchasing some more Bulgarian spindles to spin with because even though these two are functional I do like how old they are and would like to retain their quality.

The Rose

Now, this gorgeous spindle is a French/Russian hybrid spindle, also known as a Rose. This is a Lisa Chan design, the woman behind Gripping Yarn. I was fortunate enough to get  this spindle shortly before she stopped taking orders. I wish I had also put in a request for a reproduction of a French spindle. Alas, life's regrets!!

It is made from Black Alder and weights 19 grams.

As can be seen, the bottom half is in a contemporary Russian style with the pointy bulb at the bottom to spin supported while the tip is in the French style with an engrained ridge circling the top.
Here are a couple closer pics of top and bottom;

   

Lisa Chan explains that this design provides the ability for both styles of spinning; the faster supported Russian spinning, and French twiddling which is slower.

I opted to have copper instalments that clip on at the top of the spindle to allow for semi-suspended spinning.

Copper tips for spinning (right) and plying (left)

Now, I have to be honest.. I found this spindle hard to use. However, it was my first spindle and I struggled! Also, getting a French/Russian hybrid probably wasn't the best idea for a first timer to spindle spinning! I have since played with it for a short period of time and couldn't get into the rhythm of using it for Russian spinning as I found the French style groove at the top did get in the way, but I do stress that this was only a short play. I do intend to get re-acquainted with this beautiful spindle in the future now that I have learnt how to spin supported. I also look forward to learning how to use the copper tops too!

The 'Olive'

I bought this Russian style spindle after my emotional fallout with Rose. I thought I should bite the bullet and commit to either French or Russian before I go for a hybrid. Boy, was I happy when I got my hands on this gorgeous gal!

Made out of Olive Wood (thus, the name is Olive), weights in at 44 grams (so she is on the heavier side but that doesn't matter now, does it? It's all about what's on the inside ;) ) and she was produced by Pumpkin Hill Farm. I noticed people on forums speaking highly of them. I bought mine from the online store Spunky Eclectic, along with some other lovely fibres. I'm not sure if they have a regular stock of Pumpkin Hill Farm spindles but they do have other lovely spindles as well as anything spinning, weaving or fibre related.

The Olive spins well and is very well balanced. I believe the heavier weight of this spindle allowed me to learn supported spinning a lot easier. However, after building up the thread it adds to the weight of the spindle and can be slower to spin. Mind you, this isn't necessarily bad and I never used to notice it but after spinning on it after a while you can feel the weight slowing the spins down a little bit.

As ever, the watchful feline eye, approving of the Spinster's activities...

Anyway, there you have it! My current support spindles. Be sure, when I collect new spindles I will share them on here :)

Stay spun!

- Mokosh