Once all the traveling was done, I took a short break from knitting to spin a few more of the fiber sampler bundles. These are quick little spinning adventures designed to help me learn about the different sheep breeds and their fiber characteristics. One of the Ravelry groups was hosting a little spinning contest where folks could gain one entry per single breed spun during the given time period (no fiber blends, no yardage requirements). This sort of thing is wonderful for lighting the fire of enthusiasm. For this adventure I chose the Corriedale, Cheviot, and Jacob fiber samples.
First up was the Corriedale sampler. My sample had a longer (4-5″) staple length and medium-soft feel. It spun up easily and beautifully into very strong singles. I chose to try a mix of plying techniques with this one to see which would be best for the fiber type – 3-ply, 2-ply, and chain-ply. All of them are soft and bouncy, but I prefer the 3-ply over the others in this case.
Next out of the bag was the Cheviot sampler. My sample was medium-soft and fluffy, but not as sticky to spin as the Cormo. It made a nice fluffy single, which I spun onto 2 bobbins. The 2-ply retains the bounce and fluffiness of the original fiber.
The smaller skein is a chain-plied bit from the leftovers on one of the bobbins. I can’t seem to load an even amount of yardage onto each bobbin, so I nearly always end up with a bunch of leftovers. It’s likely that using a scale to weigh my fiber when I split it might help, but I have yet to try it. (Silly me!)
Last out of the bag (for this adventure anyway) was the Jacob. Jacob sheep are always multicolored, but my sample must have been pulled from one section of a fleece or multiple fleece sections of a similar color, because it was a uniform medium heather grey. I finished this one just prior to the close of the contest, so it may have suffered from a small bit of hurry-up-will-ya! That doesn’t seem to have affected my happiness rating with the fiber. This was another super easy fiber to spin. It made three bobbins of strong, rustic singles. The resulting 3-ply yarn retains the rustic qualities, and has much more yardage than expected. (These are all 1 ounce bundles – it’s amazing how some fiber is heavier than others, and therefore doesn’t go as far.)
And then it was a good thing that the contest was closing, because I lost steam with the spinning. Time to return to the knitting!
For the fiber folk:
- Fiber:Â Woolgatherings 28 Breed Fiber Sampler Pack; Corriedale, Cheviot, Jacob
- Ravelry spinning project page here