Leigh's Fiber Journal

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bowmont Fleece 3 - Spinning

By Leigh

One of the advantages of starting an online workshop late, is having the benefit of the experience of the other participants. The Bowmont Fleece Challenge has generated some very interesting discussions in the Online Guild forum, and until now, I've been able to sit back, read, and take it all in.

Since my sample had to be shipped overseas from the UK, it was already washed. Even so, I found the discussion about washing fine fleece to be very informative. I was able to jump in with my fleece assessment, and preparing the fleece for spinning. Challenge participants tried a variety of preparation methods: hand carders, woolcombs, and spinning straight from the staple. One common problem was neps and trying to avoid them, which is not uncommon with fine fleece.

Since I am working with 50 grams, I decided not to experiment like I would if I had a whole fleece to play with. I want as little waste as possible! My plan was to use my favorite spinning tool, my dog comb, to open the locks. I would spin straight from these without further preparation.

What I discovered was that my regular dog comb was too coarse to comb the fine locks. So I decided to try what is called a "flea comb," also available in the pet department.

This worked very well. It opens up the staple beautifully. (It also works great on shedding cats even if they don't have fleas, provided said cats will cooperate with being combed.)

Then on to the spinning.

Spinning a dog combed staple of Bowmont from the cut end.

Spinning from the staple produced another interesting conversation amongst challenge participants; whether it is better to spin from the tip or the butt (cut) end. Of course, like everything else, there are those who have had success either way. I chose to spin from the butt of the staple for two reasons.

The first reason has to do with fiber length, as the longest fibers will draft out and spin first, leaving the shorter fibers behind to be spun last. This really isn't a factor with the Bowmont, as the quality of the fleece is consistent throughout the sample, no matter the fiber length, which varies very little anyway. It would be a factor if Bowmont was a dual coated fleece or had a lot of long guard hair. It would also be a factor if it was blended with another fiber of a different fiber length, for the same reason.

The second reason has to do with the physical structure of the individual fibers themselves. Wool fibers have microscopic scales. If you read my Angora rabbit posts, you probably remember me mentioning this then.

These scales are attached to the indivudual fibers like fish scales, the edges facing toward the tip. The fiber then can either be spun so as to smooth the scales down, or can be spun "against the grain" so to speak.

I must say that spinning them this way is wonderfully easy and smooth. The fiber has just enough lanolin left in it to make spinning a joy. Wanting to stretch my 50 grams as far as I can, I am spinning a finer yarn than I think I ever have before, except perhaps at a workshop.

My singles are measuring 66 WPI, and here is a short length plyed back on itself next to a dime.....

For me this is fantastic! I am usually too impatient to spin like this, because it takes a loooooong time to fill a bobbin. But for the Bowmont, it's worth it.

Next - A problem.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Bowmont Fleece 2 - Fiber Assessment

By Leigh

When I opened my package of washed fleece from Lesley Prior for the Bowmont Challenge, my first thought was "Wow! This stuff is heavenly!"

Coming from the UK, the fleece was already washed in compliance with overseas export regulations, so I can't give you an evaluation of the raw fleece, but here's my assessment for the washed.

1. Weight - 50 grams
2. Color - white. Tips white to cream.
3. Luster - moderate
4. Cleanliness - Very clean. No dirt, no grease. Scant amount of VM present.

5. Length - 3 - 4 inches
6. Single coat fleece
7. Shape - rectangular
8. Integrity - locks are sound, not tender
9. Tips - sound not tender, not dirty nor discolored
10. Rare second cuts
11. Crimp - 12 per inch. No wave or curl.
12. Staples are open and finger draft easily. No cotting.
13. Fineness - exceptional! Definitely next-to-skin wearable, even for a baby.
14. Felting - easy. It only took a couple of minutes to make a small felt marble.

Since Bowmont is a Merino/Shetland cross, I would love to be able to compare it to fleece from both of those breeds. However, I've never worked with either Merino or Shetland in fleece form (either raw or washed), only as commercially prepared roving.

Another thing I am curious about would be weight before and after washing, as it would give me some idea of the grease content. I do know that Bowmont fleece does not have as high a lanolin content as Merino, but I am unsure about the lanolin in Shetland. Lots of things to be curious about!

At this point my plan is to spin it as a fine yarn, probably matching the crimp by spinning it at 12 twists per inch. I don't think this will take too long to accomplish as it is hard to keep my hands off it!

Next - Spinning the fleece.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Bowmont Fleece 1 - The Breed

Bowmont sheep and Cashmere goats grace the landscape.

By Leigh

This month's Online Guild workshop is a Bowmont Fleece Challenge. When it was first scheduled last year, I was very interested and signed up. Having never heard of the Bowmont breed, I immediately went to Oklahoma State's Breeds of Livestock website to look it up. They didn't list it!

The breed is quite rare, though not in the sense of how one usually thinks of rare breeds, i.e. an old breed in danger of becoming extinct. Rather this is a fairly new breed, with approximately only 100 breeding ewes in the UK, many of which are not even being bred to Bowmont rams.

The breed was developed in the 1980s, when a team of geneticists and fiber biologists at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, decided to develop a breed which would be of economic benefit for hill farmers. Their goal was to produce a fleece of superior fineness, like Merino, but hardy enough to survive the conditions on the British Isles, unlike Merino. They chose British Shetland ewes and Saxon Merino rams. The offspring were then bred back with Merino, to produce a core stock of 75% Merino and 25% Shetland.

For the next 15 years, the Macaulay Institute implemented a selective breeding program to improve fiber quality, developing the Bowmont breed of today. Unfortunately, the Institute's research farms were eventually closed, and the Bowmont flock was either sold or slaughtered.

Lesley and Roger Prior, of Devon Fine Fibres in the UK, were able to purchase a small flock of 16 ewes and two rams, in hopes of preserving this valuable new breed. Lesley is a member of the Online Guild, and made the fleece available for a guild fiber challenge. All the photos posted here are hers, and are used with her gracious permission.

Bowmont Breed Characteristics:
* Adults weigh 40 - 45 kgs
* Average fleece is 2.5 - 4 kgs
* Fleece Color - white
* Micron count between 15 - 20 (fine Merino is usually 18 - 22)
* Lower lanolin content than Merino

For the challenge, I was able to purchase 50 grams of clean Bowmont fiber, plus 10 grams of Scottish Cashmere ( also from Lesley's flocks) for blending with the Bowmont. I will report on these in my next posts.

Next - Assessing the Bowmont fleece.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Rare Breed Sweater - The Home Stretch

The home stretch ................ or at least I hope it is.

Over the weekend we had a chilly snap, so I worked on weaving in loose ends of yarn (of which there seemed a gazzillion) and sewing Rare Breed Sweater pieces together.

I have to admit that warm weather usually dampens my enthusiasm for large knitting projects, but the frosty mornings and brisk north wind all day were perfect for having a knitted sweater on my lap.

I have the fronts loosely pinned together with t-pins in the photo below, so you can get an idea of how it's looking.

I was so relieved that all the pieces fitted perfectly, especially the sleeves!

What's needed now is the front and neck bands. I have to admit that I've been dragging my feet over this because I haven't completely settled on how I'm going to do this. I'm not sure of solid white bands in front because of the stripes of green. I'm not sure of trying some patterning, as I've never done this on sweater bands before. I will probably spend some time thinking about this.

Hopefully they will go better than the front bands on this sweater did. For some reason I had a heck of a time getting the pick-up right on that sweater! I can't tell you how many times I had to re-do it before I was satisfied. Even though I re-learned to knit about a decade ago, I'm so slow that I honestly can't say I've progressed to much more than an intermediate knitter.

And then there's finding buttons. Something sheepy I think? Decisions, decisions!!!!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Summer & Winter: Polychrome Rug 2

Thank you, All, for your good wishes on my first year of blogging. I have a quick question about my new template, and would appreciate feedback. I use the Firefox web browser, but checked my new look in Internet Explorer 7 (since different browsers tend to do different things with the codes). I was dismayed to see that in IE7, the blue line at the top overlaps the bottom of my title and description. I couldn't figure out what to do in my template about this, especially as I found that the overlapping didn't occur in the preview window. Is anyone else seeing these overlapped?

Now, here's what I want to show you......

This is my second rug in polychrome, using the same threading as the first one. It measures 19 by 31 inches, plus 3 inch fringes on either end. Of course, I was silly enough to ignore the wise advice I have heard repeatedly, "Always put on more warp than you think you'll use," and had to tie on more to weave this one.

Marie asked about the rug filler I used. Yes, it does look like mop cotton!

Now, I did not purchase this, it came from the weaver from whom I bought my loom, who included all her weaving yarns too. I suspect the wrapper is exceptionally out of date; indeed, I wouldn't even know where to get this stuff.

It is a 4 ply worsted weight cotton yarn, similar to the sugar & cream type crochet cottons. It measures 12 WPI (if one thinks like a spinner) or 750 yards per pound (if one thinks like a weaver).

It does not make for an especially thick, nor sturdy floor rug. It would probably do best in low traffic areas or as a run-and-slide cat toy across a hardwood floor. I think it would be better suited for heavy blankets, or a throw across the back of a chair than for the floor. But what the heck, I just used what I had. In fact, I would never have purchased this color combination, I just challenged myself to use what I had. It took quite a bit of experimenting to come up with a color scheme that I liked, but once I got weaving, the spring-like Easter colors grew on me.

I took both my little rugs to the monthly WNCF/H Guild meeting where, in preparation for the program on rug hooking, the show-and-tell theme was "rugs."

Show & Tell rugs at the Western North Carolina Fibers/Handweavers Guild meeting.

Quite a few gorgeous rugs to admire, as you can see. Lots of good ideas to tuck away for future use. I can't say that I see myself as a rug weaver, but I do like the idea of creating items which are both useful and functional. So ........ maybe someday ........

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