Sheep of the Week: Polwarth

You won't find many Polwarth Sheep in North America and it's a pity because I am smitten with their wool.  In South America, they are called Ideals, which sums it up pretty succinctly.

To me, they are ideal because I relish anything soft and fluffy and petable, not to mention easy to spin, a sponge for dyes, and plays well with other fibers.

These guys came into being in the 1880s in Australia, Polwarth County.  The breeder had Merinos that didn't fare well in the rainy climate of South Australia.  So he crossed his Merinos with Lincolns (3/4 Merino, 1/4 Lincoln) to give us the heartier dual-purpose Polwarth with long, soft fiber and lean meat.  They produce a 13-15 pounds of fiber (that's a ton of fiber gold!) with an average staple length of 6 inches and micron count of 23.  Polwarths don't have a lot of wrinkles under those wooly sweaters of theirs, so their fleece is very consistent.

The fiber is a dream to work with, easy to prepare and gentle to the hands. Spin it worsted to enhance its natural brightness and sheen and to lend a nice drape to the fabric.  Work it up into knitted, woven or felted items like hats, cowls, scarves, baby sweaters where itchiness can not be tolerated.   Blend it with other luxury fibers like bunny angora, silk, cashmere, kid mohair, baby alpaca for a truly numinous fiber experience.  

Word has it that Polwarth ewes are good mothers.  How hard could that be if your baby looked like this!

Puddles!  Photo courtesy of Shirley Browsky.

This little guy is from the flock of Shirley Browsky, a fiber artist in Ottowa, Canada.  Contact her if you are interested in fleeces.  Maybe Puddles is ready to be your next project.

Photo courtesy of Shirley Browsky.

Sheep of the Week: Angora Goat

I know, it's a goat, not a sheep, but who's quibbling?  It's four-legged, it bleats and it produces some really fun fiber.

FUN FACT:  It's a BAND of goats, a FLOCK of sheep and a HERD of cattle.

The angora goat, funny enough, produces mohair fiber and should not be confused with the bunny of the same name.  It gets its name from Ankara, Turkey, from whence it came, and where it was so valued that the Turks actually put a picture of one of these characters on their money.  Now our own state of Texas is one of the top three largest mohair producers in the world, along with Turkey and South Africa.  Presumable, they like the Texan climate and food (grass, shrubs--sounds about right for a goat).  These mid-sized goats are a little picky about their environs and somewhat difficult to raise as they are more delicate and less prolific than their wool-producing cousins.

Their fiber is similar in size to course wool, but because each strand is smooth rather than scaled, it does not felt.  It is a strong fiber, lustrous, elastic and easily dyed in rich colors.  Some goats' coats grow in ringlets; some in flat locks.  The ringlets will be softer.

One of the things I love about mohair is it's tendency to produce floaty, cloud-like yarn.  You can blend it with wool to achieve this halo effect, but choose your mohair carefully.  Kid mohair, from the babies (aka kids) is the one you want for next to skin wear, otherwise you may find your beautiful garment itchy and unwearable.

Angora goats are mid-sized animals with big goat personalities.  Bucks can weigh up to 225 pounds, while does top out at 110.   Males and females both grow spiraling horns up to two feet long on the males, making them picturesque and maybe a little dangerous.  But look at that face! 

My dream flock would definitely include one of these handsome guys.  My dream flock just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Sheep of the Week: Merino

Word has it that there are over 450 breeds of sheep throughout the world, and most enthusiasts agree that the merino produces the softest wool of all, some of which rivals cashmere in its luxuriousness.  So luxurious, in fact, that the keepers of these sheep have been utterly stingy in the past.  So stingy, it’s a wonder we even have merinos 

in this part of the world.  We do have a few, but even 

now it’s difficult to find true merinos in the U.S.

Before the 18th century, King Ferdinand of Spain cornered the market on merinos, known then as Escurials. (We have a rooster named Ferdinand, a.k.a effing Ferdinand, bastard chicken from hell.  Only we don’t say “effing.”)  Anyway, remove a sheep from Spain and effing Ferdinand would have you executed.  I told you they were stingy!  He gifted a few to his cousin in Saxony, Prince Xavier, and the Saxon Merino was born.  Eventually, war came and the flock was all but annhialated.  What survived was dispersed to the four corners.  Those that made it to America were selected for meat, and their wool suffered.  Those that went to Australia were bred for their wool, and they ate something else.  So fine that someone got stingy again and it wasn’t until 1986 that the Aussies allowed sheep to be exported.  Rams only.  Good luck with that breeding program.  

Ever resourceful, ranchers in America bred those rams with well-chosen muttons, and now we do have a few farms that produce lovely merino fleeces.  Alas, none are local to Western North Carolina, but we can still hope.  (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong!)  Merinos have been crossed with other breeds to add softness to potentially scratchy wools, so when you find Cormo or Polwarth or Rambouillet, you’ll have a nice next-to-skin fiber to use in your spinning or knitting.

I am a huge fan of merino fiber.  One of its characteristics is loftiness.  Another is warmth.  Once spun, the yarn is puffy and bouncy, light weight, yet warm.  It does not wear hard, so it will eventually pill.  But honestly, it's worth it.  Look how pretty.

This is hand spun merino plied with bamboo in my Reed colorway.

Fun fact:  Merino sheep carry up to 10-25 pounds of fleece on their 80-175 pound bodies.  I bet they’re frisky on shearing day.

Another fun fact (and probably TMI):  Did you know that you can buy merino undies?  Wool panties.  Sounds awful, but, again, I am a huge fan.  Every try to pull up a pair of sweaty wet cotton panties (after peeing in the woods) when you're backpacking up a mountain on a 90 degree day.  Wool panties will change your hiking life.  Trust me.

Effing Ferdinand...Bastard Chicken from Hell

Sheep of the Week: the Romney

Let's get this straight, the unfortunately-named Romney hails from the Romney marsh area of Kent, England and has nothing whatsoever to do with that other Romney whose name is setting like the sun on a long summer day...not a minute too soon.

  He is showing off his show ribbons!

  
Anyway, these guys are the Humvees of the sheep world--big, stocky, utilitarian, go-anywhere sheep with long staple wool that's super easy to spin. They produce a LOT of wool and, if you have the space, a Romney or two can really boost your income from fleece.  

Photo courtesy of SkyLines Farm of Idaho.

For spinners, the wool is characterized by medium luster, low grease and minimal shrinkage during fiber prep.  For knitters and weavers, the yarn works up best into hard wearing outerwear--sweaters, hats, mittens, throws. If you're sensitive, you may not appreciate it right next to skin.

I bought some roving recently at Asheville NC Homecrafts shop in the Grove Arcade and dyed it into two new colorways I'm working on...High Desert and Hill Country Morning.  Both have a bit of a heathery halo to them that I haven't seen in my other dyeing escapades. I'm very happy with the fiber, but have my fears about the yarn, just because I really like my fiber soft and snuggly.  Stay tuned for the yarn and a project.  I'll let you know if it's soft enough for knickers.

High Desert

Hill Country Morning

Sheep of the Week: Jacob

One of the hardest parts of spinning fiber into yarn is choosing from among the oodles of materials.  You can't always tell from the way a fiber feels in the store how it will feel once it is spun and washed, its twist set, then knit into something yummy.  In a cruel twist of fate, fiber that is soft enough to swaddle a baby (think Merino) generally will be more delicate and likely to wear out sooner.  And what is durable and sturdy (Wensleydale, anyone) is what that itchy scarf is made of.  You know the one.  It's on the floor in the back of the hall closet the last time you checked.  And as I search for materials, either in my local shops or on online, I find that there is an information underload.  So I am trying to educate myself about various breeds of sheep by both researching and experimenting first hand with a variety of fibers.  Each week, I will study a breed and share my findings.

First up, the Jacob.

I stumbled across some beguiling fiber at a local shop, The Asheville NC Homecraft Shop, which carries many locally produced products, including rovings from Hobby Knob Farm, just up the road in Weaverville, NC.  This stripey madness is what I spied:

When the lady in the shop told me it came from one sheep with 4 horns, I knew I had to investigate.  I also bought a Jacob batt, when had been well blended to a uniform gray, and which I dyed in my Carolina Sunrise colorway---purples, indigos, coral and red--and spun into a textured yarn for which you'll just have to stay tuned.  

Until then, let me introduce you to the Jacob.  Does this look real to you?

Octavia, from Hobby Knob Farm.

From Hobby Knob Farm. I only see 2 horns.

They're like the panda bears of the sheep world!  Only with horns.  And hooves.  And I bet they reproduce more easily.  Anyway...they believe that these sheep come from the Middle East, through Spain and Portugal to Britain.  Its wool is of medium luster and is best when spun into a thicker yarn, either worsted or woolen.  It is not a next-to sensitive skin wool, so save it for knitting into outerwear and outdoor garments--hats, mittens, sweaters, vests.  

I decided to use some of my top to practice the second lesson of Art 101--the Autowrap.  I carded some gorgeous mohair with a little sparkle to serve as my wrap, plopped that in a bowl at my feet and started treadling.  Now, I'm not much for brown yarn.  I'm just not much for brown, period.  And the mixing of the brown and the white of the fiber is a little obscured by the mohair which, I grant you, could have been spun a little finer.  But the more time I spend with my little skein of Jacob, the more enamored I am.  You decide.