Lincoln is a very long staple that stretched my ability to spin well. It’s also very strong, and not soft, and I do not have a plan for it yet. I bought the fiber already dyed.
The black Shetland was the first thing I spun; it was easy, especially compared to a different batch of Shetland I bought elsewhere. It’s all in the prep. The yarn has been used up in the multi-breed blanket.
I bought 8 oz of Teeswater and learned to dye it with food coloring dyes in three or four lots. Felted some; wasn’t thrilled with the colors in others. Dyed in the fleece then hand-blended and spun to make a gradient. Not sure how far I want to go into dying and blending when my blending tools are dog brushes. (That is, not sure I want to buy real fiber-processing tools on top of two spinning wheels.) This yarn is going into the multi-breed blanket.
The Cotswold was an easy spin; I purchased gray fleece, spun it, then yarn dyed it red. Had to dye it twice because I didn’t open the skein enough to get good penetration. Plan to knit gloves and found a pattern on Ravelry, Entangled Stitches, that I like. Need to swatch.
I didn’t really enjoy the Dorset horn; I finished the spin and then used it in short socks for the SE2SE sock challenge in October. The socks are too thick for my shoes, so I sewed leather patches on the bottom to make them house slippers. They work for that. Need to learn to spin more evenly if I’m going to make more handspun socks.
Shave ’em to save ’em is a program of the Livestock Conservancy.
