Finn Corriedale Border Leicester

Some time ago I showed a lovely wool sample: Finn-Corriedale-Border Leicester. Here's the small skein I spun:

Louet Victoria (singles) and Hansen Minispinner (plying)
WPI in 2-ply: 26

                          
                                  My cute WPI gauge, made by a spinning friend on Ravelry

The handle was clearly different than Finn or Corriedale. It has a clear longwool character, but not like Border Leicester. The wool felt more like a young Cotswold. Stiff in a way you wouldn't expect from so fine and soft wool, but not in an unpleasant way. It's very white, the yellowish in the photo of the skein comes from the lamps.

I like this wool a lot. It can be used for several techniques like weaving, knitting, crochet.

Scouring Finnwool

I'm a very happy spinner indeed. Kind spinners keep sending me lovely wool, and now it's autumn, and that means it's shearing time in Scandinavia.

This is what I've been scouring today:

Lovely Finnwool sent to me by a Finnish spinner! It's soft, has lovely crimp, and it's very clean. Still I have to scour it, because there's dirt in it. Scouring Finnwool is delicate work. Don't touch, only look:

It felts. Warm water, detergent, and agitating makes felt out of this wool in a couple of minutes.

Am I enjoying life?

The light brown Estonian Finull from Ülle at Vana-Olevi is carded:

I've said it before, and I say it again: lovely wool!

I have been spinning and even finished some yarn:

This is the Finnwool  I dyed and carded earlier, and to the right two blue-violet skeins of Cheviot.

And I've started combing Swedish Leicester:

Long, strong and lustrous. I think I'll dye the finished yarn. At least I'll spin it during Tour de Fleece.

So what do you think? Do I enjoy life? :)

Finull and Finnwool

I bought some gorgeous wool from Estonia. It's Finull from Ulles awesome sheep (see here: Vana-Olevi). Notice "gorgeous" and "awesome"? :) I don't know how to describe the wool otherwise. Look:

White, brown and black Finull, and on top of it an Ouessant sample

A closer look at the scoured brown wool:

And the raw black wool with the incredible crimp:

I have been thinking I won't scour the white wool, but will wash a sample and see how it behaves. I have never seen so clean wool before. It's winter wool! It should be felted and foul, but it's open and airy, a joy to kindly pat. It would be a shame to make it felt by washing it.

I'll start working with these wools next week. I have a few more orange Finnwool batts to card. This particular Finnwool is also of a gorgeous quality, but I'm not allowed to tell where I got it. It's rare nowadays. This is the wool I dyed some weeks ago and showed here: acid dyed Finnwool drying.

I have a plan. I'll spin the Finull and the Finnwool into yarns I can use together in a sweater. Please be patient with me, it'll take some time.

Finull and Finnwool? Yes, two different breeds from two different countries. Finull is a Swedish sheep with fine wool (that's what the name says, Fine Wool, Finull). Finnwool comes from my countries national breed, Finnsheep. The wool is fine and lustrous.

I find it very typical for our times to spin Swedish wool from Estonia in Finland. I love the thought of it.

I have finished a yarn, even if most of my time is spent on silk. I have a long time project going, ready to show next summer if all goes as planned. But here's the bobbins' ends wool yarn I plied earlier this week:

I had to empty my storage bobbins because there was no empty ones any more so I plied some of them into a 3-ply. That's why the yarn is so uneven. There are thin threads with much twist and thicker ones with less twist, spun on both spinning wheel and spindle. It'll be a nice purse.

Teasing

I'm teasing wool today. This is the Finnwool I acid dyed a few weeks ago.

A Day for Green Boucle

Today I have just been having fun. I spun a green boucle. It's Finnwool, dyed locks I bought at a fair last autumn. I combed them, spun a thick and thin singles and plied with blue sewing yarn.