This is my third post covering my breed project. If you have missed my earlier posts I’ll explain.

In 2021 I decided to spin around 25g of lots of different breeds of sheep.

• March 2021 I wrote an Initial Idea post.
• January 2023 I published the results of the first 12 breeds I spun.
• March 2024 I published an additional 11 breeds (12 if we treat white and black Cheviots separately).

There has been a mix of commercial top and fleeces that I’ve washed and processed myself.

This post is my record of spinning the final breed samples. I’ve detailed where I got the fibre from and which year, which year I spun it, my thoughts on the fibre, metres, grams spun and finished yarn weight.

Where it shows #2 this is a breed I have spun before as commercial top and now raw fibre sample, so I’ve noted them separately.

All measurements were on the niddy niddy pre-washing so will be shorter (basically I’m a numpty as seen in this old post).

• Blue Texel – (fleece) gifted sample from a Guild member in 2021, who had got the full fleece from another member. Link for notes when I spun commercial white Texel top. The white and blue Texel have separate Wikipedia pages so maybe are different breeds, so I’m counting them as separate.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 38.64m, 18.1g, Bulky, 7 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Washed and combed by me on the hackle. There was less static than other fleeces I’ve combed and the fibre was quite thick and really filled the combs. When I pulled off from the hackle using a small hole on my dizz (sorry non-spinners for the techie jargon) it came through as a lovely thick squishy top that was consistent and not whispy. It made me excited to spin it as I felt it was going to give me a lovely squishy yarn, which is my preferred result. I enjoyed spinning it, a few nepps and vegetable matter (vm) to pull out but overall I enjoyed spinning it and the finished yarn is lovely and squishy and bounces back when stretched. Definitely could see myself spinning more.

• Boreray– gifted washed fleece sample from a Guild member in 2021.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 32.43m, 16g, heavy DK, 10 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Washed and combed on the hackle by me. Lots of combing waste and lots of nepps, so out of 25g only about 16g useable and that included trying to spin some of the comb waste at the end of each single. It was okay to spin but having just spun the Blue Texel (BT) the day before I feel it has been disadvantaged by how much I liked the BT. There’s a slight sheen but it’s a little scratchy so not close to neck for me.
• Castlemilk Moorit – gifted fleece sample from a Guild member in 2021.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 30.5m, 15.3g, Aran, 8 wpi, 2 ply.
  • This fleece had a lot of skin flakes in it eew! I washed it and it’s so unappealing. I didn’t like the feel of it wet or dry. The ends look bleached and it’s a short staple and just sits as fuzzy little blobs, so bringing myself to spin it was a job and a half! Combing it was fun and it has a lot of crimp so dense on the combs, see this post for photos. The finished yarn is squishy and has lots of spring in it, but not as soft as the blue texel which was similar. Slight rustic dry feel but not scratchy.
• Charollais – tops from Adelaide Walker bought 2023.
  • Spun in May 2024 on Nano 2, plied on Ashford Traveller. 73.8m, 33.29g, Worsted, 9 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Spun on the same day as Lleyn and Lonk which I’ll cover below, but of the 3 this was my favourite.  It had almost no hairs and was toothy but soft and preferred to be spun a little thinner than the other two spun on the same day. Definitely will spin more of this.  Not as soft as a Polwarth, Merino or Rambouillet but I’d possibly be happy with something for my neck with this. I think it would be squishy if spun thicker, which I may do with the rest in my stash. A creamy colour.
• Coopworth – tops gifted to me in 2020 by Alissa of Headknits blog (in USA).
  • Spun in May 2024 on Nano 2, plied on Ashford Traveller. 40m, 29.5g, Heavy DK, 10 wpi, 2 ply.
  • The fibre was a fleece that Alissa had processed by a mill in Ohio. Upon spinning it became clear the processing had been quite light and the fibres were not parallel and still had some lanolin in. I really struggled to spin it and didn’t like the feel of my hands getting stickier as I was spinning it and the Nano struggled to take up the spun yarn. It was a little challenging to draft it, I suspect the mill had carded it and then pulled top from that rather than it being combed. (Commercially combed top in the UK usually has all the fibres lined up in one direction.) The finished yarn was hot washed with Australian wool scour. The yarn is soft with a nice sheen and creamy colour, but it has a fuzzy halo so probably wouldn’t be close to neck for me, but I could see others being able to tolerate it. It is the 2nd most common sheep in Australia, yet my spinning group friends all hadn’t heard of the breed before. (Reading about the breed they were originally a cross between Romney ewes and Border Leicester rams.)
• Devon – tops bought from World of Wool bought 2024
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 26.9m, 24.5g, DK, 11 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Well I may have found a fibre that rivals the Herdwick on the extremely scratchy side. If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know my preference for squishy yarns and this has no squish. It’s under-spun and under-plied because I could not wait to get it out of my hands! It wasn’t hairy like Herdwick so hasn’t scarred my finger, but it felt extremely rustic…to be polite.
• Exmoor Horn – tops from World of Wool bought 2024
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 33.1m, 27.9g, worsted, 9 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Spun and plied on my Ashford Traveller. This fibre really got up my nose, literally. There seems to be 3 types of fibre within the top; a few hairs, regular fleece and some very small flyaway fine fibres that liked to fly up my nose. It’s pretty scratchy, but not as bad as Herdwick. Don’t think I’d want it in a garment; I may try felting the leftovers from the 100g.
• Jacob – carded fleece bought in 2018 at a wool fayre.
  • Spun in May 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 106.26m, 48.4g, Aran, 8 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Carded fleece with lanolin still in and quite a lot of VM and nepps in. Maybe not a good example of a breed test, as I do not enjoy spinning greasy fibre and this was carded not top. Very uneven but roughly 8 wpi as it quite puffed up, but some bits are much thinner. The yarn was set using Australian wool scour and hot water, but even after drying it is still slightly greasy. The finished yarn isn’t quite soft, but not scratchy. No halo or hairs, rustic/toothy but not scratchy. I’d like to try this breed again using commercial top.
• Lincoln Longwool – locks bought in 2023 from Guild member
  • Spun in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 27.6m, 23.5g, DK, 11 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Locks with lanolin in were combed on my hackle with small combs and my goodness it was a challenge. The staple length is enormous! Between 28cm (11″) and 34cm (13.5″)! Quite a bit of loom waste and goodness it was a workout waving my arm around because of their length. I’m going to use the remaining ones in a felting project I think. Even too long for fairy hair. With my wheel pushed as far away from me as I could but still able to treadle and my arms well away from each other I did manage to spin the fibre but my arms soon got tired and this was only a small amount. It has some sheen but that was hard to tell if it was the lanolin so it went for a hot wash with scourer in after.
• Lleyn – tops from World of Wool bought 2024
  • Spun in May 2024 on Nano 2, plied on Ashford Traveller. 36.2m, 26.7g, Aran, 8 wpi, 2 ply.
  • Enjoyable to spin, softer than expected as this is mostly bred for its meat.  Only a small amount of guard hairs and they mostly fell out during drafting. Quite toothy but not scratchy and I enjoyed that. It seemed to want to be spun a little thicker.  Spun on the same day as the Lonk which was very similar, although the finished yarn isn’t as nice as Lonk. A creamy white colour.
• Lonk – tops from World of Wool bought 2024
  • Spun in May 2024 on Nano 2, plied on Ashford Traveller. 43.19m, 27.54g, Aran, 8 wpi, 2 ply.
  • As mentioned under Lleyn this was a very similar experience to spin.  A few guard hairs that easily fell out, a bit softer than some of the other hill breeds I’ve spun and one I’d happily spin more of and would try against my neck. It is a whiter yarn.
• North Ronaldsay – carded washed fibre bought on Orkney in 2018, these are the famous seaweed eating sheep.
  • Spun in 2019 on Ashford Traditional. 138m, 91g, Worsted, 10 wpi, 3 ply.
  • Technically this was spun way before I thought of doing the breed study, but as I have some of this yarn left I’m including it in the study. My notes at the time were “a bit hairy and coarse, lots of white and black hairs in with browner shades of the softer wool”.
• Romney #2 (fleece) – gifted washed fleece sample from a Guild member in 2021. Link for notes when I spun Romney top.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 37.26m, 19g, DK, 11 wpi, 2 ply.
  • I should have given this fleece sample another wash as it still had some lanolin in so my fingers were getting sticky as I spun it, which I’m not keen on. I combed it and there was quite a bit of combing waste (that seems to just be the case with combing I’m realising). The staple seemed pretty long and seemed to want to be spun quite thin (well for me). Almost no nepps or VM and so it was quick and nice to spin. The finished yarn was washed in scoured and hot water and when dry is fairly soft ok against my neck but with some slight halo it maybe not suitable for some.
• Suffolk #2 (fleece) – gifted washed fleece sample from a Guild member in 2021. Link for notes when I spun commercial Suffolk top.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 35.88m, 24.2g, Bulky, 7 wpi, 2 ply
  • I washed it again and then combed it when it was dry. Lovely to draft and spin, it was easy to spin pretty consistent thickness. There was quite a bit of combing waste but I did spin that at the end of each single, so one end of the finished yarn is a bit bobbly and less attractive than the rest. It’s a nice plump yarn, soft and probably ok against my neck.
• Zwartbles – gifted fleece sample from a Guild member in 2021, it came from one of her neighbour’s sheep.
  • Spun and plied in July 2024 on Ashford Traveller. 26.22m, 19.75g, Aran, 8 wpi, 2 ply
  • I washed it again and then combed it. For some reason I had low expectations but actually enjoyed spinning this and the variations in the shades of grey were pleasant to see as the singles gained twist. The finished yarn has a nice sheen and smooth to touch to it too which was unexpected. It’s not merino soft but feels softer than many other breeds. A pleasant surprise and I could see me spinning it again.

I may in future spin new breeds but for this particular study I’ve now spun all I intend to.

My Ravelry record of the breed project is here. There’s a total of 36 different breeds spun! My breed study page has each breed with 😃🙂😐🙁😩 ratings and links to the breed wiki pages. I spun the first breed in April 2021 so it’s taken me 39 months, but I did it 😃 🥳

A friend at our Guild suggested when I wash them all I re-measure them and could look at shrinkage, but I can’t see me doing that.

Lots of the breeds still need to set (soak and snap). When they are all set, I will do one final wrap up post with my favourites and least favourites, a photo of them all together and mention 4 other breeds I’ve spun that weren’t in the study because they were dyed! So in total I’ve spun 40 sheep breeds in my spinning life, exceeding my original plan!

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I hope these posts have been interesting to the non-spinning knitters. My hope is when you are at a fibre festival or yarn shop and see some yarn from a different type of sheep to your normal preference (let’s face it mostly it’s merino out there) you consider it, give it a squish and maybe give another breed’s yarn a go. Or at least think 💭“I bet Liz would like this one, it’s squishy”! 💭