I talked about Gotland wool earlier this year, and I even talked about it on Fiber Talk:
Now that I've worked with more of it, I'd like to add a few things. First, I know that with many breeds, there will be a variety of qualities and characteristics the individual fleeces might exhibit, and that might be further compounded if the shepherd/ess is making crosses or upgrading bloodlines. If you're working with an older animal's fleece, it'll feel very different than a lamb's fleece. These points are all worth keeping in mind when working with any particular breed (with some exceptions, where fleece characteristics are tightly controlled).
Second, your experience with a wool will vary according to how you prep the wool and how you spin it. And last, what is your Gotland telling you? I actually debated about whether I should comb or card this fleece, since the locks were on the longer side. I decided to card it because I wanted the finished yarn to be fluffier, and the batt would help me spin a loftier yarn. After doing my cotton spinning challenge, I began making larger samples for testing techniques and the like. So, with this fiber feeling so soft, naturally, I wanted to highlight that aspect as much as possible in the twist. The batt fluffed up considerably after removing it from my drum carder...it begged to be spun with a delicate hand.
This fleece came from a soft, baby Gotland sheep from the UK. This coloring is impeccable for making a wonderful heathered gray yarn, as you can see in the photos. The fibers smoothed right through my fingers, so I kept the intake low and had on my largest whorls, but kept my fingers deft so I didn't impart too much twist.
I kept the single twist low and the ply twist low, which had an unexpected result. In most wools I've spun, when you spin/ply with low twist, you'll get a poofy yarn where the fibers poof in the same way. But I haven't really done this with a curly fleece before now. After I washed the plied skein, I noticed that little bits of curl would reactivate--but they wouldn't all reactivate as a cohesive curl. It was a bit like watching a kid walk a dog, where each had different ideas about which way to go. Maybe you can see what I'm talking about with this closeup:
Without any tension, this yarn seems to meander through the length, rather than just be poofy, as I would expect a fiber like merino to do if spun similarly. Does that make sense? The yarn bends one direction for half an inch, then it bends in a different direction, and so on. It takes on a wiggly appearance instead of a poofy or round one. I have some super curly Cotswold, so I kind of wonder if it'll do the same thing if I spin it similarly. :)
My yarn weighed 85g and had 452 yards. Since I don't have a spinner's control card right now, I figured out how many yards per 100g I had by setting up a proportion (hey, I'm using algebra!), which gave me 525 yds/100g (or, 5.25 yds/g; 2378 yds/pound). So, my yarn comes to about a heavy lace weight yarn, according to the Wikipedia yarn weights page. Once I knit up a swatch, I'll see what the stitch gauge can tell me about the gauge of the yarn...is it really a heavy lace weight yarn?
Let's talk about the prickle factor for a second. Gotland is typically listed in the upper 20s-lower 30s on the micron scale, but this seems to be a wool similar to Icelandic: if you keep the twist lower (think soft-spun), you can minimize the prickle factor of your yarn. My fleece came from a super soft baby lamb, so mine is probably in the low-mid 20s, so keep in mind the age of your sheep when you decide to spin Gotland. I probably could have spun this Gotland with more twist, but I'm still quite pleased with the final yarn. I think a low twist yarn really brings out the particular curly characteristics of this wool. Part of my breed study lessons come from letting the wool speak to me; in this case, I'm glad I listened! So, what has been your experience with Gotland? Have you worked with it more since we last talked about it? Post in the comments below and share with your friends!
Places to find me:
Email: expertlydyed@zoho.com
Etsy: http://www.expertlydyed.etsy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/expertlydyed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferBeamer2
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/edexpertlydyed/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/expertlydyed
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/expertly-dyed-friends
Now that I've worked with more of it, I'd like to add a few things. First, I know that with many breeds, there will be a variety of qualities and characteristics the individual fleeces might exhibit, and that might be further compounded if the shepherd/ess is making crosses or upgrading bloodlines. If you're working with an older animal's fleece, it'll feel very different than a lamb's fleece. These points are all worth keeping in mind when working with any particular breed (with some exceptions, where fleece characteristics are tightly controlled).
Second, your experience with a wool will vary according to how you prep the wool and how you spin it. And last, what is your Gotland telling you? I actually debated about whether I should comb or card this fleece, since the locks were on the longer side. I decided to card it because I wanted the finished yarn to be fluffier, and the batt would help me spin a loftier yarn. After doing my cotton spinning challenge, I began making larger samples for testing techniques and the like. So, with this fiber feeling so soft, naturally, I wanted to highlight that aspect as much as possible in the twist. The batt fluffed up considerably after removing it from my drum carder...it begged to be spun with a delicate hand.
This fleece came from a soft, baby Gotland sheep from the UK. This coloring is impeccable for making a wonderful heathered gray yarn, as you can see in the photos. The fibers smoothed right through my fingers, so I kept the intake low and had on my largest whorls, but kept my fingers deft so I didn't impart too much twist.
I kept the single twist low and the ply twist low, which had an unexpected result. In most wools I've spun, when you spin/ply with low twist, you'll get a poofy yarn where the fibers poof in the same way. But I haven't really done this with a curly fleece before now. After I washed the plied skein, I noticed that little bits of curl would reactivate--but they wouldn't all reactivate as a cohesive curl. It was a bit like watching a kid walk a dog, where each had different ideas about which way to go. Maybe you can see what I'm talking about with this closeup:
Without any tension, this yarn seems to meander through the length, rather than just be poofy, as I would expect a fiber like merino to do if spun similarly. Does that make sense? The yarn bends one direction for half an inch, then it bends in a different direction, and so on. It takes on a wiggly appearance instead of a poofy or round one. I have some super curly Cotswold, so I kind of wonder if it'll do the same thing if I spin it similarly. :)
My yarn weighed 85g and had 452 yards. Since I don't have a spinner's control card right now, I figured out how many yards per 100g I had by setting up a proportion (hey, I'm using algebra!), which gave me 525 yds/100g (or, 5.25 yds/g; 2378 yds/pound). So, my yarn comes to about a heavy lace weight yarn, according to the Wikipedia yarn weights page. Once I knit up a swatch, I'll see what the stitch gauge can tell me about the gauge of the yarn...is it really a heavy lace weight yarn?
Let's talk about the prickle factor for a second. Gotland is typically listed in the upper 20s-lower 30s on the micron scale, but this seems to be a wool similar to Icelandic: if you keep the twist lower (think soft-spun), you can minimize the prickle factor of your yarn. My fleece came from a super soft baby lamb, so mine is probably in the low-mid 20s, so keep in mind the age of your sheep when you decide to spin Gotland. I probably could have spun this Gotland with more twist, but I'm still quite pleased with the final yarn. I think a low twist yarn really brings out the particular curly characteristics of this wool. Part of my breed study lessons come from letting the wool speak to me; in this case, I'm glad I listened! So, what has been your experience with Gotland? Have you worked with it more since we last talked about it? Post in the comments below and share with your friends!
Places to find me:
Email: expertlydyed@zoho.com
Etsy: http://www.expertlydyed.etsy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/expertlydyed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferBeamer2
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/edexpertlydyed/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/expertlydyed
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/expertly-dyed-friends
