# What is your favourite breed of fleece to spin.



## Milocat

Here in Aus. We have mainly Merino sheep, it is commercially grown and exported, and is much in demand all over the world. I find the superfine Merino to be rather difficult to spin because it is so fine that it tends to get a bit dense. What do others like to spin ?


----------



## llamama1

Merino is my all time favorite fleece to spin. I also love to blend it with silk, angora, alpaca or llama, mohair, or bamboo.


----------



## Knitted by Nan

I really like a good Polwarth fleece. Polwarth is a breed of sheep that was developed in Victoria during 1880. They were of one-quarter Lincoln and three-quarters Merino bloodlines. They are large, predominantly polled sheep with long, soft, quite fine wool and produce good meat carcases.

I have some bamboo to spin and must blend it with my merino tops. I also like to blend silk, alpaca and mohair with my wool fleece when I spin.


----------



## Milocat

I would love to try some Polwarth or some Cheviot but it is rather hard to get. I currently have a coloured Corriedale which looks nice, the trouble is the Merino I have is sliver so difficult to blend, but I think that is the answer, I will think about adding some other fibre.


----------



## Anne in Dunedin

I have some Corridale that is lovely to spin. Was at an open day and a trader had some Polwarth that had been processed so that it felt like silk.
Rather expensive because of all the work involved but worth it.


----------



## Knitted by Nan

Milocat said:


> I would love to try some Polwarth or some Cheviot but it is rather hard to get. I currently have a coloured Corriedale which looks nice, the trouble is the Merino I have is sliver so difficult to blend, but I think that is the answer, I will think about adding some other fibre.


Wendy, David and Tom Dennis run a Polwarth sheep and wool growing enterprise on their historic Birregurra property 'Tarndwarncoort', established 1840 in Western Victoria.

The Dennis' produce Polwarth fleece, tops, yarn and skins for craftspeople around the world.

Buy Polwarth woolcraft supplies direct from the Farmgate Woolshop or though the webstore.

https://tarndie.com/wool/

also

http://www.feltfine.com.au/products/white-polwarth-sheep-tops


----------



## desireeross

I love spinning merino, my absolute favourite . I've not spun too many but the ones I have I thoroughly enjoyed. Learned to spin on alpaca from there moved to falkland, merino, then Corriedale. Next is some polworth waiting to be dyed and spun.


----------



## Jennydan

I love Corriedale when I can get a fine fleece. Bilby yarns in W Australua has lovely fleece for sale.


----------



## Pam in LR

Count me as another Corriedale fan!


----------



## spins2knit

I am very fortunate to live in a Spinner's paradise. We have locally grown Corriedale, Churro, Shetland, Rambouillet, Targhee... I can go on. I love all of them for their differences. But probably my all time favorite is Blue Faced Leister. ( Probably spelled that wrong). It just seems to spin itself and it takes color so beautifully.

Feel guilty with such abundance. We have access to several great fiber festivals where we can see and feel. Yak, Buffalo, Alpaca, llama, and mohair also locally grown.

I will give some thought as to how I could share the abundance. Would the postage be exorbitant?


----------



## Condia

Oh there are so many lovely breed of sheep with wonderful fleeces it is hard to pick only one. Romney, Rambouillet, Blue Face Leicester are all my favorites to spin. When doing commission work almost everyone wants merino which is not one of my favorites to spin.


----------



## shepherd

Milocat - PM me if you want to try Cheviot! When I had had my sheep about 2 years and just had them to enjoy, a show judge told me they were the best kept secret in spinning. I started treating them that way and discovered why!
Now 18 years later I have a nice flock of sheep with very spinnable wool, and a studio full of raw fleeces and roving!


----------



## Magicnymph

alpaca... the wool I have spun was not breed specific.


----------



## shepherd

The first time I had a chance to spin Merino was in a sheep-to-shawl demo at a local fair. I had only spun my Cheviot and some Romney and my spinning partner had only spun Romney. DH said he could see the blue smoke coming out from under the tent for the first hour! We finally caught on, but it was quite a learning experience! We made 3 shawls over the 2-day fair (2 spinners and 1 weaver). One was raffled off and the two spinners each got one. Teenagers flicked and hand-carded the wool as we went along - it was great fun. We did it for 3 years (until the museum cancelled the fair) and for one shawl we used her Romney ram "George". We were calling it "The George Shawl" until a man came along and said it should be "The George Bernard Shawl", and so it was.


----------



## desireeross

spins2knit said:


> I am very fortunate to live in a Spinner's paradise. We have locally grown Corriedale, Churro, Shetland, Rambouillet, Targhee... I can go on. I love all of them for their differences. But probably my all time favorite is Blue Faced Leister. ( Probably spelled that wrong). It just seems to spin itself and it takes color so beautifully.
> 
> Feel guilty with such abundance. We have access to several great fiber festivals where we can see and feel. Yak, Buffalo, Alpaca, llama, and mohair also locally grown.
> 
> I will give some thought as to how I could share the abundance. Would the postage be exorbitant?


Yes to BFL. I forgot to mention that one!


----------



## Spinningmary

Do you think people ask for merino fleece because they are unaware of all the other amazing, unique breeds there are?
My latest favourite is Devon Closewool, it is quite silky and dr


----------



## Spinningmary

Sorry, drapes well with no kemp. Norfolk Horn is another versatile breed. Several bits of fleece stored in my shed at the moment waiting for the next rust of inspiration.


----------



## Condia

You know, I think you may have a good point there.



Spinningmary said:


> Do you think people ask for merino fleece because they are unaware of all the other amazing, unique breeds there are?
> My latest favourite is Devon Closewool, it is quite silky and dr


----------



## desireeross

Spinningmary said:


> Do you think people ask for merino fleece because they are unaware of all the other amazing, unique breeds there are?
> My latest favourite is Devon Closewool, it is quite silky and dr


In my case definitely. I'm only looking for soft, next to skin results.


----------



## Condia

There are many wonderfully soft next to the skin wools other than merino. Most are just not as well advertised as Merino.

.


desireeross said:


> In my case definitely. I'm only looking for soft, next to skin results.


----------



## Maginel

There are SO many to choose from. Merino is actually towards the bottom of my favorites list. Love Lincoln, cormo, cheviot, Romney, Corriedale... the list goes on and on.


----------



## desireeross

spinlouet said:


> There are many wonderfully soft next to the skin wools other than merino. Most are just not as well advertised as Merino.
> 
> .


I need to do some investigating!


----------



## Silverpeep

Mohair/wool blend, CVM, Cormo, BFL


----------



## mousepotato

Personally, I love Shetland, Corriedale, merino, Polwarth, Targhee, and BFL.


----------



## Milocat

Interesting that so many find Merino ' difficult' I find that superfine is the most difficult. Problem is that here in Australia we are awash with Merino and it is really not easy to get other fleeces. I find Corriedale to be much easier to spin, but am wanting to try other breeds. I find all your comments very helpful in my quest to try other breeds.


----------



## mama879

I went on paradise fibers this morning to look at all the info you have given us. Found some wonderful different breeds I think I will be getting. Oh no more stash what to do. You guys are terrible (not really). I will be searching for more. Thanks ladies.


----------



## nellig

I think my favorite is what ever I'm spinning at the moment. That would include merino, cormo, CVM, Jacob, Romney and "unknown". I once got several fleeces from a lady who had no idea what kind of sheep she had. I never saw them either. One of them is quite course but very springy. The short rovings I've made are very springy--love playing with them. My next favorite will be Cheviot.


----------



## Goodshepfarm

I too have access to many breeds and therefore really don't have a favorite. I raised Romney and found the Rams fiber was luscious. Some Corriedale I recently spun was beautiful, but better than that I want to tell you my special new secret fiber is Finn!!! I spun some and found it so soft! So, I went on a hunt and found a shepherd near me who raises Finn. I bought an entire fleece and it is wonderful.


----------



## bakeknitsew

BFL (Blue Face Leicester) is my favorite - I seem to have quite a bit of it but it is so easy to spin and dye. I have had a chance to spin a variety of wools and recently bought a Coopsworth-Romney blend that is delightful to spin it has long fibers. Not very soft but I think will make a great outer sweater. I also have access to angora which I have blended with everything, including merino. Angora makes everything soft.


----------



## bakeknitsew

Finn is luscious! It spins like a dream and whenever I can find it, I buy it! Fleece or roving.


----------



## wordancer

spins2knit said:


> I will give some thought as to how I could share the abundance. Would the postage be exorbitant?


Please do and let us know what you come up with. ????


----------

