Flannelberry Fibre

California Reds are medium-sized sheep, the rams weighing from 200 to 250 pounds and the ewes from 110 to 140 pounds. The rams sometimes have manes and both sexes are polled. The breed is non-seasonal and can be bred for three lamb crops in two years. The lambs are born red, a color that is retained on the legs and head as mature animals. At maturity the fleeces turn a beige or oatmeal color. The legs and faces are free of wool with long pendulous ears which emphasize the animal's appearance.
The wool is silky in texture and has found a specialty market with hand spinners and weavers. The staple length is three to six inches and the wool has a Bradford count of 50 to 60.

The Clun fleece is a short, close-textured wool of consitently high quality, with a spinning count of 58 and a high degree of elasticity. It is largely used in hosiery and knitting yarns.

The breed takes it's name from the ancient market town of Clun, situated in the beautiful Clun Valley in the southwest corner of Shropshire and near the county of Powys. The Clun Forest is a mountainous district, running to an altitude of 1,630 feet above see level. Many Clun flocks have been kept for years in those hills, while others thrive in the lower pastures of the area. Because local shepherds selected for hardy, fertile sheep, the Clun Forest became, through the centuries, a hardy and adaptable breed, able to forage and fend for itself. Some authors attribute the breed to a combination of Hill Radnor and Shropshire with Kerry Hill breeding also introduced in about 1865.
The Cluns were among those breeds that became economical to produce following an agricultural depression in Britain, beginning in the 1870s, when the price of sheep collapsed, the bottom fell out of the grain market, and lands were left to return to grass. Such breeds had merit in part because of their ability to survive in a rigorous environment, on grass and whatever they could forage through the seasons, and still produce viable lambs under those conditions.

The Corriedale produces bulky, high-yielding wool ranging from 31.5 to 24.5 micron fiber diameter. The fleece from mature ewes will weigh from 10 to 17 pounds (4.5-7.7 kg) with a staple length of 3.5 to 6 inches (9-15 cm).  The yield percent of the fleece ranges from 50 to 60 percent.  Mature rams will weigh from 175 to 275 pounds (79-125 kg), ewe weights range from 130 to 180 pounds (59-81 kg).

To the casual observer, the external appearance of the Cotswold and Lincoln is similar, but there are several differences that are apparent. The Cotswolds are somewhat smaller than the Lincoln, although mature rams in good condition will weigh about 300 pounds and ewes usually around 200 pounds. Cotswolds carry more foretop than do Lincolns, and the fleece is carried in rather bold locks and is usually from eight to ten inches in length. The fleece grades braid but is somewhat finer and softer than that found on the average Lincoln. The fleece will mat or become cotted rather easily and unless it is kept clean and in good condition may become somewhat unsightly. The fleece parts along the back, is rather open and in hard cold rains does not offer a great deal of protection to the sheep. The average ewe flock will shear about twelve pounds annually, while rams should shear appreciably more wool. The fleece of the Cotswold is white.

The fleece is very white, strong, close and free from dark fiber. Dorset fleeces average five to nine pounds (2.25-4 kg) in the ewes with a yield of between 50% and 70%.  The staple length ranges from 2.5 to 4 inches (6-10 cm) with a numeric count of 46's-58's.  The fiber diameter will range from 33.0 to 27.0 microns.

The little sampler 1 oz of 6 random Canadian breeds. We'll pick 'em with input from you.

You'll get 12 oz of fibre - maybe 6 2oz puffs, maybe 12 1oz puffs. We'll always pick the sampler based on what your needs are.

The Jacob fleece, which is properly described as white with black spots, is prized by hand spinners and weavers. The white and the black wool, which may fade at the tips to dark brown, may be blended to various shades of greys. The wool is of medium grade, and interestingly, the black wool, which grows out of black skin, frequently is shorter than the white wool, which grows from white skin.

The merino is large framed and relatively plain bodied, producing a heavy fleece which is soft handling and of good color with a fiber diameter of 20-22 microns. Staple length is approximately 90mm.

The Romney fleece is unique among all breeds of sheep in the way it combines several important traits. The fleece is lustrous; it hangs in separate locks, with minimal cross fibers between the locks. It is also high yielding and easily spun. Uniformity of crimp from the butt to the tip of a lock is also typical of the breed. Romney wool has the finest fiber diameter of all the longwool breeds; the spinning count may run from 40 to 48 which is 38.0 to 31.0 microns. Ideally, the spinning count of the fleece is consistent over the entire body.
Fleeces from mature ewes will weigh from eight to twelve pounds (3.6-5.4 kg).  It is the low grease content of Romney wool that makes it a very light shrinking fleece upon washing, and consequently high yielding with a range in yield from 65 to 80%.
Whether shorn once or twice a year, the wool clip from the purebred Romney flock is sought by commercial wool buyers and craftspeople. Its broad range of acceptable spinning counts enables Romney wool to be used for many products, ranging from sweaters to outer wear to carpets. For the commercial producer, incorporation of the heavy-shearing white Romney can add significantly to overall farm income.
The long, lustrous fleece, hanging in separate locks, also makes a white or natural colored Romney fleece especially attractive to those who practice the ancient art of handspinning. The fleece is easily spun in the grease or after washing and carding, and readily takes dye. The natural black, gray, silver and brown colors of the natural colored Romneys are frequently among the most sought after fleeces at shows and sales. A handspinning-quality fleece may often sell for three to ten times what a commercial buyer would pay for it.

Today the Blackface is numerically, and probably economically, one of the most important in the United Kingdom.  In 1989 their wool accounted for nearly 40% of the total wool production of Scotland and one twelfth the wool production of the United Kingdom. The fleece that the Scottish Blackface has today is the result of selective breeding since medieval times from a short coarse wooled ancestor.  The fleece of the modern Scottish Blackface weighs from 1.75 to 3 kg with a staple length of 15 to 30 cm.

Overseas Scottish Blackface wool is used in the production of fine carpets. It has exceptionally hardwearing qualities combined with a natural springiness which enables it the pile of the carpet to resist tread marks and to regain its upright position even after the prolonged pressure of heavy furniture.  Many of the best Axminster and Wilton Carpets are made from this wool.  Some grades of Scottish Blackface wool are used in the manufacture of Scottish and Irish tweeds.  Other grades are exported in considerable quantities to Italy where the wool is greatly prized for filling mattresses.  Artisans have long treasured the horns of the Blackface for the carving of shepherds crooks and walking sticks. In the US the fleeces are becoming of interest to fiber artists and hand spinners for use in tapestry and the making of rugs and saddle blankets.

Shetland wool has a Bradford count usually in the upper 50's to lower 60's and a fiber diameter range of 20 -25 microns. Fleeces usually weigh between 2 and 4 pounds (1-1 1/2 kg) and have a staple length of 2 to 4.5 inches (50-120mm).
Shetland comes in one of the widest ranges of colors of any breed. Besides the white, the sheep produce several shades of wool including moorit(reddy/brown), shaela (silvery grey), fawn, grey, dark brown and black. They are often patterned such as krunet (white crown), katmoget (dark belly) and gulmoget (light underneath). There are 11 main colors as well as 30 markings, many still bearing their Shetland dialect names. Unfortunately, many of these colors and markings have become quite rare as white wool has historically commanded better prices.
The wool color and high quality is commercially important to the wool industry of the islands where natural wools are often used undyed to make high quality shetland knitwear. Extra fine ring shawls are knitted, so called because the finest can be passed through a wedding ring. In the UK as a whole the wool is prized by handspinners.

Fleece weights from mature ewe are between five and eight pounds (2.25-3.6 kg) with a yield of 50 to 62 percent.  The fleeces are considered medium wool type with a fiber diameter of 25.5 to 33.0 microns and a spinning count of 48 to 58.  The staple length of Suffolk fleece ranges from 2 to 3.5 inches (5-8.75 cm).

Each ewe will average a 10-14 pound (4.5-6.3 kg) fleece that has a micron measurement of 25-21 and a spinning count of 64-58. The staple length of the fleece will be 3-5" (7.5-11 cm) with a yield of 50 to 55 percent.

Tunis wool is a lustrous 24 to 30 microns, long-stapled 4 to 6 inches that has found favor in many fiber and textile enterprises. Ewes typically shear a fleece weighing 6 to 9 pounds of this 3/8th's blood, 56 to 58 spinning count wool.