Just too many sheep breeds!

The more I felt , the more breeds of sheep and their fibres I discover and the more confused over their different properties I become. The final straw arose over short fibre merino. Is this a new breed of merino sheep? Fibre from part of the sheep. Or just the ordinary merino cut up? This is a question I would really like answering !!!!

All these different fibres make slightly different qualities of felt. So in an attempt to resolve my confusion I decided it was time to start to build my own felt sample library. Starting with what I have in my stash.

Each sample to start at 11cm square and weigh 3 g. I am having worries now I have started this that this is too small and has too many inaccuracies. But too late for those technical concerns now.

Made so far left to right :

Bergshcaap, C1 merino, CM norwegien , Nepal, LLewyn , Cap from woll knol.

To make , left to right;

Gotland , merino top, merino silk mix, alpaca, Herdwick, merino silk blend 2, Blue faced Leicester , Jacob, Norwegien.

I am going to label them all and thread them on a ring. With lots of space for more.

Here I have a technical problem . I have the eyelets I have the special plastic tool and I have a hammer , but so far in my test I have failed to make an acceptable eyelet. Weird , must be a mismatch somewhere in my equipment.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sheep to Sheep

This week I have been flying around too much to think.

I saw this wonderful sheep in Belgium enjoying the sunshine like me on the banks of the river       Leie, after a walking tour of the city. 

Nearby was a shop ,found out on Ravelry , that wonderful knitting site , that sold fabrics and knitting yarn . The mother and daughter were very friendly and helpful and I chose some wool to make a shrug. I also managed to buy some more fibre in my three hues.

I few hours later, after a quick drive through the Netherlands and a plane trip,  I was back at the site of if my return to knitting after a 20year layoff, the heart of student territory in Liverpool's Smithdown road. The knitting cafe is long gone. But returning to knitting started me on a fantastic journey of discovery and has made me many friends.

I was in Liverpool as my daughters house needed a clean and clear out prior to selling and I had the short straw. 

After a few hours of frantic work, I returned tired but happy to my bolt hole. Glorious cold but sunny weather and a saw this other wonderful sheep enjoying some frosty morning grass.

Back to reality now and time to get back to normal.