Spinning Survey

Cosy is asking spinners for their reflections spinning different sheep breeds and preparations of fiber. In her post she asked:

"what have you spun in what preparation? if you’ve spun both top and roving, which did you like better? were either of these farm wool? was there a notable difference between the farm wool and the non farm wool? elaborate or not as much as you would like!"

Breed: Blue-faced Leicester
Preparation: commercial top (Underwater Sunset, Skittles, Insect Wings, Mild Child)
Experience: Of the breed specific top I have spun, most has been BFL. An easy spin, and the final product has some luster.

Breed: Corriedale
Preparation: commercial top
Had one batch that was neppy and semi-felted in the dyeing process. Not very fun, although the final product had a surprising amount of loft. The other lot of top was actually Corriedale X top that I dyed and blended on the drum carder. Spun bulky, that resulted in a fluffy yarn.

Breed: Shetland (Red Velvet)
Preparation: commercial top
A smooth, easy spin.

Breed: Merino
Preparation: commercial top (Verbena)
My only experience was superwash Merino. In retrospect I don’t think I per-drafted enough because the fiber was so fine and fly-away I was afraid to muddle it up. As a result of not pre-drafting enough the final yarn is very dense and thick – but so, so soft!

Rambouillet
Preparation: farm, roving (shawl, hat)
Woolly and springy. Light processing made this fiber seem more alive. My favorite so far.

Romney
Preparation: farm, roving
Love, love, love the colors. Have found significant variation in the scratchiness of this fiber.

Gotland (samples)
Preparation: commercial top
Spun a pinch from the fold. Seems sturdy and lustrous.
Preparation: farm, pin-drafted
Lofty, textured.

Coopworth (samples)
Preparation: farm, roving?
I sampled two different colors from two different sheep. One was certainly more neppy than the other. I would like to work with more of this.

Cotswold (samples)
Preparation: farm, top
Hairy. But I’d give it another try

I've only been spinning a year, and there is still so much to discover and learn! Right now I have farm Merino (pictured at the top of this post), Mohair, Teeswater locks, Merino x Romney locks, and silk in the spinning queue waiting for me to have the time and inspiration to turn them into something...