Wednesday, July 15, 2009

BFL and other fibers

How much do I love the Bluefaced Leicester (sounds like Lester - those wacky British spellings) I'm spinning up right now?

BFL - Moulin Rouge

BFL, which I pronounce as "Biffle," is one of my favorite standard wools (widely available for spinners). It's almost as soft as merino, in my opinion, but is a little sturdier. This BFL was dyed by Frabjous Fibers. I'm planning a 3-ply, roughly worsted weight.

Yes, I've added this to my Tour de Fleece goals. Maybe not all 8 ounces - but we'll see. I've finished the alpaca and sari silk (4 50-yard skeins and 2 38-yard skeins). Before moving on to my other alpaca/silk, I felt like working on some wool.

I also received my "fleece study by mail." I got samples, about 2 oz each, of raw wool from 15 different breeds, along with some other odds and ends. Of the 15 breeds, I'd only previously worked with two of the types raw, and only a couple of others in processed form, so I'm hoping to learn a lot as I work on these samples - washing, prepping, spinning, possibly dyeing. Here are some of my samples:

Fleece Study by Mail

I didn't get pictures of all of them, because 4 were already being washed by the time I remembered to get my camera out.

And now, on to the yummy alpaca/silk blend! I'm planning to make a striping, 2-ply laceweight (although of course my plans may change as I actually work with it).

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