Guest Post: Osborn Fiber Studio

In the last eight years or so, since I first got really and truly obsessed with knitting, I've had the privilege of learning more and more of the skills that bring knitting into being, from designing to dyeing to spinning.

It was through Oliver and Abraham's and Breezy Willow Farm that I got to the beginning of the process. Casey sent me home from the CSA with bags upon bags of fleeces, and with fiber from this blog's eponymous alpacas. I learned quickly, out of necessity, how to wash fiber straight off an animal in a washing machine. Before long, I was dyeing and carding it on the Caulders' drum carder.

The only stage left - the stage I stalk O&A's to learn more about - is the actual raising of animals. As soon as my husband and I have a slice of land to call our own, we hope to acquire some usefully furry friends. 

 The question is, what kind should we spring for?

There are loads of factors in selecting a sheep breed, most of which I don't know anything about. We'll have to take into account what kind of land we have, what type is in demand, what heirloom breeds are rare and need help, ad things like temperament, climate appropriateness, etc. I don't know any of that stuff, and if you know any good resources to find out, I'm taking recommendations! What I do know, from experience processing and spinning fleeces, is how to select a fleece.

The main variable when it comes to types of fiber and fleeces is crimp. There are others - staple (how long the fibers are), luster, etc. But the factor that most determines what a fleece is going to be like to spin is the crimp.

Crimp is just what it sounds like; it's what makes a lock of wool look like your hair when you tied it in little braids as a kid, then took it out, wishing your hair was curly and awesome like your best friends'. (Maybe that was just me.) Remember physics in high school? I don't, because I never took it, but at some point in science we learned about waveforms. When you're measuring sound, you talk about the wave's amplitude and frequency. You can think of crimp like that, too.

The rule of thumb is: the higher the crimp frequency, the softer the yarn. In order to get super-crimpy, the fibers have to be very fine. What's more, the crimp keeps more air in the yarn, which acts as an insulator, making these soft wools even warmer. An example from this family is a cormo cross that my mom bought at MD Sheep & Wool this year; it has 6-8 crimps per inch. Merinos, cashmere (from mohair goats) and certain kinds of Corriedales are even crimpier.

 In contrast, wools with a longer crimp are much sturdier. They also tend to have a longer staple, because all that length isn't being eaten up by waves (think about how long it takes your curly-haired friend to grow her hair out). From what I've seen so far, they are much easier to spin with minimal preparation. This beautiful silver ramboullet-cotswald-border leicester cross that I was given as a gift, I am washing very carefully, then spinning directly from the locks. 

 In contrast with this spectrum, there are fibers like the lovely alpaca, a completely different ballgame. Alpaca, for the most part, doesn't have much crimp. Their fiber is much more like hair. Alpaca's softness is on its surface, so it traps air right next to your skin in its soft little fibers. As such, it doesn't trap a lot of air in its structure, and tends to relax into a much drapier fabric. I found out from experience that this makes 100% alpaca handspun a not-great choice for a ribbed hat. 

 But it's fabulous for things that are supposed to be drapey, like shawls, and particular types of neckwarmers and sweaters. Blend it with wool, and their powers combine to make an extra soft yarn good for almost anything.

There's so much more to say about different kinds of fiber, but there are whole books written about that. My goal is to try spinning an example of each type, and see which I love enough to do every year.

Here's hoping the answer isn't "all of them."

 

-Rebecca from Osborn Fiber Studio

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