In Depth Look at the Fleece Study Part 5

Today marks the fifth in a series of posts in which we are going to look at an in depth explanation of all the breeds in the fleece study. Generally I spun rather thin, but I tried to spin how ever the wool felt comfortable.
In this post we will look at breeds from the Feral Family and the Welsh Hill and Mountain Family.



 I only had one sample from the Feral Family, The Gulf Coast Native. This has a very nice color to it in a mottled brown. The sample was carded and spun woolen from roll logs. It has a nice texture to it, perfect for hats. Some fleeces or parts of fleeces may be suitable for next to skin garments; this sample is not one of them. Nor is the next.

This next sample, the only pure natural black sample in the collection is from the Black Welsh Mountain breed from the Welsh Hill and Mountain Family. This fiber sample, when washed and wet looked like something you would pull out of you shower drain if you come from an Italian family. This yarn is single ply. It was spun from roll logs and was spun with a long draw technique. The sample is rather coarse. I did find, in a local shop, locally spun Black Welsh Mountain wool yarn that was not at all like this. It was crisp but had a nice spring and loft to it. This sample was not pleasant to work with but I would try it again.

Up next we are going to begin looking at some of the other breeds that do not fit into the families that I have discussed so far. I wouldn't call them orphans because there are some lovely fleeces in this group that I would quickly adopt.