I've been collecting sheep breed wool samples ever since I took my first breed class at The Spinning Loft. I save them in four binders: Fine Wools, Long Wools, Down Breeds & Double Coats and everything else (silk, cashmere, bison, yak, etc.). Each page, along with a wool description, has a lock of wool and a spun sample of a singles yarn and a 2-ply yarn.
I realized, though, that that wasn't enough to be really useful to me. I needed to add knitted swatches to show just how a breed's wool feels and looks knitted up. So last week, I started spinning up what I had of various breeds.
I love this picture. These are the natural colors of the wool. The two on the left are Rambouillet (white) and Polwarth (brown) and from top right to bottom are Gotland, Borderdale and Corriedale. Aren't they beautiful! I just love natural colored wool.
These are some of the swatches I knit last week. Sorry the picture is so bright; I'm a lousy photographer. Clockwise from the upper left are North Ronaldsay, Finn, Merino and Portland. I haven't quite figured out how to store all of these swatches but I'm pretty sure I won't be putting them in the specimen books, mostly because then the books will be way too bulky.
The original plan for first thing this morning was to drive to Spicer's Orchard to pick sour cherries. Unfortunately, I found out Saturday that the transmission is going on my car and I need to both cut out unnecessary driving and start saving for either a new car or a new transmission. This means no cherry jam and no cherry chutney since Spicer's is about 30 minutes away and their cherries are kind of expensive per pound. This may also mean I have to cut down on one of my favorite parts of summer which is visiting U-pick farms and stocking up for winter. Sooo not happy about that.
You are WAY too organized! I'm feeling a bit guilty about my own spinning now ...
Is the Gotland really that blue? It's beautiful, and a breed I'm unfamiliar with. Off to google it now!
Posted by: Nannette | July 12, 2011 at 07:56 AM
Oh no! I'm so sorry! Car problems suck.
I love the Romeldale, it's on my buy list for SAFF this year.
Posted by: elizabeth | July 12, 2011 at 04:43 PM
I just had to replace the transmission in my car. I feel your pain.
Maybe you can get a friend or two to go u-pick with. They drive this year and you drive next...
(Love your samples!)
Posted by: gayle | July 13, 2011 at 10:02 AM