I am part of a spinning group at my LYS. We meet twice a month, and this year we have decided to do a breed and fiber study. So once a month our meetings will focus on a specific wool breed or fiber, and we will all take turns teaching each other about them.
January’s focus was on Blue Faced Leicester. What a luscious fiber! I have only spun BFL once before (as part of my Skywool), and I had forgotten how easy it is to spin! The fiber we were provided with has a staple length of about 6 inches. The wool is wavy, rather than crimpy, and it is a commercial top preparation.
From about 1 1/4 oz I spun 92 yds of singles at my default spinning size of a light fingering/lace weight (Spun S). I like the yarn to be tight and plump when plied, so I spun with quite a bit of twist. In addition to trying a new type of wool. I decided to try a new plying method by cable plying my yarn. So after I spun my singles I plied both ends together, adding more twist than I would for a balanced yarn (Plied Z). I then plied both ends together again to create the cable ply (plied S). This resulted in 23 yards of a thick, almost ropy, Aran weight yarn, and I love it to bits!
Do you have a favourite kind of wool to work with? What about a new technique that you’ve recently learned?
Dramatic Lyric 
lovely I love spinning BFL, it is so easy and makes such nice yarn! and I haven’t tried cable plying yet, though I think I will. what will you make wit that?
I recently did a crepe ply – which is like a 3 strand cable. 2 strands spun s, plied together z. third strand spun z, and then s plied with the other two already plied. It also makes a nice yarn which I haven’t yet knit with. 🙂
Oh wow! That is such an interesting ply structure! I need to go read about that now! LOL
I don’t have any plans yet for my yarn, but eventually I’ll figure something out. Suggestions?
something with a stitch design – cables or Guernsey or something. That yarn will really hold it’s shape in that kind of knit.
Ooh! Yummy! Now I need to spin up a lot of this so I can do something like that.
yeah for Bluefaced Leicester! This is the breed of sheep I raise and love!
Awww yay!