Day 20 Creativity – Fleece: 19 types and counting.......

Thursday was the monthly meeting of Diss Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. We had a very interesting talk about fleece- ranging from the different groups of fleece, differences between fleece of the same breed, differences between areas of one  fleece - in fact anything connected with fleece. Our Speaker (Maggie Hunt) brought her Fleece files with her where she has recorded details of the breed , with examples of the fleece and sample skeins and knitting.

This got me thinking - I keep an accurate Dyeing record in files , but not of the fleece I spin. So I think I will start doing this !

My two favourite books about fleece. Other useful sources of information are the Wool Marketing Board and the individual breed societies.

I have listed below the fleece I have spun or that are in my store to spin. (Brackets mean I have the skein, or knitted item but no example of the fleece.)


Types of Fleece
Pure Bred:
Bleu du Maine
Cormo
(Hebridean)
(Icelandic)
Jacob
Manx Loughtan
Merino
Norfolk Horn
North Ronaldsay
Shetland
Soay
Suffolk
(Swaledale)
Wensleydale

Crosses:
Cheviot x Shetland
Corriedale x Shetland
Shetland x Bluefaced Leicester
Swaledale x Bluefaced Leicester
Teeswater x Bluefaced Leicester
(19)

Other animal Fibres - only spun skeins of these
Alpaca
Angora
Camel
Cashmere
Goat
Mohair
Possum
Yak
(8)

I was surprised the list came to 19 different fleece, including the cross bred ones. But there is a problem I understand there are 60 pure bred or so types in this country - more than any other in the world. How can I find time to spin the ones I have got let alone the ones I don't have yet?

My favourite of course is Shetland and I have this fleece type in different colours and different grades! However, Jacob is a close second and Norfolk Horn which I have just discovered is right up there with these.