al dente crafting

took a break with handspinning.

Clearly, catten is a handspinner! :D

Tour de Fleece Day 4: Dorset Horn

And on to Britain for the Dorset Horn. This is my second time spinning this breed, it was one of the ones I included a previous breed study (because an ounce of fleece was cheap). Some put it in as down like (Smith), while others put it in it's own group (Ekarius and Robson). It was developed from cross breeding Merino and local Welsh sheep, and seems to be the root stock for a number of other breeds, including the very similar/basically undistinguishable Dorset polled (which has no horns).

The staple for this breed varies between 2.5 to 5 inches. This top has a long staple length (5 inches), while the previous fleece I spun had a 3-4 inch staple length. Wool is white, and dyes well. It's a medium fineness, with a strong but irregular crimp. It supposedly doesn't felt much (downlike?).

I actually had plans for the day (morning of catching bugs in a creek with random children and afternoon of kayaking), so tried to spin a bit thicker than normal as Swiss and Columbia fail to score on each other. Defaulted to a short forward draw.

It looks like you can get a carded batt from most of my normal sources, and undyed white top from World of Wool and Woolery. I only found one seller with dyed top on Etsy (Made by Elizabeth).

I like it, and would do a good outer sweater or socks.

References:

Ekarius, C., & Robson, D. (2013). The Field Guide to Fleece: 100 Sheep Breeds & How to Use Their Fibers. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC.

Robson, D., & Ekarius, C. (2011). The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC.

Smith, B. (2014). The Spinner's Book of Fleece: A Breed-by-Breed Guide to Choosing and Spinning the Perfect Fiber for Every Purpose. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC.

Sheep pic (http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/dorset, (Oklahoma State University, 2020), originally from The Livestock Conservancy PO Box 477, 33 Hillsboro St, Pittsboro, NC 27312), the rest by me.

All that's left of 60 grams of bfl wool that i bought from a ren faire. Once I'm done, i can ply and find out just how much yarn I've got.

I'm still learning, so it's thick and thin and i expect more practice will have more even results but I'm still proud of what I've done.

You may be tempted to ask, Hey Nick, is your next project a coaster?

Tdf day 3: wanted to jot some memories down before I go to sleep. Most of today was ready but I also got to spin some of my waste wool parfait in voice chat, which was my first time with that group. I had so much fun!

Finished the black and purple corriedale/nylon sock spin! This blend is from Chaotic Fibres.

100g and I really hope there's enough here for a pair of socks (there should be, my average sock is running 40g with commercial fingering. So hopefully...)

And the winner of the "what am I spinning next?" dice roll is this absolutely gorgeous alpaca (100g) that refuses to photograph well in this light. Rich milk chocolate and coffee with heavy cream are how I'd describe the colours.