# Favorite Fleece?



## Happyhomemama (Jul 13, 2005)

Being new and not knowing much about fiber yet I was wondering what is some of your favorite fleece and why. I'd like to just stick with sheep breeds for now.:grin: And of course I know it can vary from sheep to sheep but as a general rule, what's your favorite? what's the softest? easiest to spin? finest? and what do you think of shetland fleece? :grin:


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

We all have our favorites as you will too. I've had bad experiences with some that I've heard other people say they love. And it is great fun to try the different fleeces. My all time favorite was a Morino/Corriedale/Romney mix breed: soft but easy to spin. BFL and Poly-pay are good, I think. A friend has California Reds that have nice wool. Some Shetland are good, some are wirey. See what I mean. Enjoy the ride!!!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

so far, I like my finn that is more curly than crimpy. It was much easier to clean that the tighter crimped fleeces. It drafts much smoother also.

I did very well with a bluefaced leister fleece also. 
I have only spun, romney, finn, horned dorset, merino, shetland, and BFL.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I love a fine Corriedale (lots of crimp, very little lanolin)

Then again, I like CVMs but they're harder to come by and at a higher price.

Next to the Corrie's, my 2nd favorite is a fine Shetland (Mrs Homesteader has nice colored fleeces).

Cormos are nice, if you can get a fine one.

I haven't jumped on the BFL bandwagon. I have had/do have a few BFL, and they are nice for long wools, but I'd rather put my $$ into a down breed (read meat sheep) for spinning/knitting into wool yarn for socks/mittens that can take a lot of abuse.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I'll jump on the BFL bandwagon. LOVE that fleece! Another favorite is Coopworth. It has a nice sheen & bounce, but not a lot of pils to fight with. I do enjoy a nice alpaca when I'm in the mood for speed.....

The more fleeces I try, the more I want to try! I do not, however, enjoy spinning Merino. It might just be my wheel though....but that's another story!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I'm a Shetland, Romney, and Icelandic fan. But just about any fleece is a agreat one, I've only tossed a few in my years as a spinner and those were mostly just because of the amount of VM, or due to damaged fibers.

I'd have to say that Romney (not the candidate) is my all time favorite fleece to spin. It pretty much spins itself.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

My absolutly favorite was a merino/romney/dorset/hamp cross. It had the softness of the merino, easy spinning and low lanolin of the romney and dorset, and the strength of the hamp. 

My second favortie is romney.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

I enjoy Corrie, Corrie x Dorset, Romney, BFL, BFL x Romney, Columbia, Merino, Merino x, Australian Border Leicester. But one of the best, EVER, was a coated BOND fleece from Australia. Bond are hard to find in the US, but have incredible wool! They are aka 'Commercial Corriedale'.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

I have a 3/4 BFL 1/4 Shetland ewe (BFL size) that I love to cross with different rams- every fleece I get from her, and hers as well, is wonderful! Shetland is super- problem with raising them (I have some super nice fleeced ones) is that the fleeces are small, and if you are raising for dual purpose, there is not much meat on a Shetland- hardly worth the effort in hubby's plan. The BFL is a larger sheep, an easy keeper (twins and triplets are there in the field in the morning). Crossed that BFL last year with Icelandic, had super fleeces there, this year with our nice fiber Jacob- and have 2 black lambs out there.... can't catch them to feel the fleeces, but am sure they are great! Another thing to consider, if you are planning on raising sheep- is the times sheared per year. I sold most of the Icelandics- beautiful fleece and all- because they needed to be sheared 2x per year. They are tops for lamb in the freezer- so kept one just for that... 
I like the medium fleeces best- they seem easier to prepare, and I enjoy spinning them more.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Romney! YUM! or Romney X Corriedale


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## Happyhomemama (Jul 13, 2005)

I loving all the replies and thinking I should have made this a poll.


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Another thing to keep in mind is what you want to use the finished product for. Outerwear with warmth? Next-to-skin item needed softness? Wool varies widely from breed to breed and even from sheep to sheep within the breed. Different wool is good for different things. I remember as a new sheep owner talking to the owner of a mill. I knew that many Suffolk owners dumped their fleeces in the compost pile or tried to burn them (haha!). She quickly steered me away from the "junk fleece" talk and told me that Suffolk fleece is very good to put inside bedding--wool filled mattress pads, comforters and quilts. And she was right! So the moral of the story is that you need to choose your wool based on what you want to do with it...


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

Hmmm... went back and read the op's question- favorite fleece. (for some reason, was thinking she was asking before purchasing the whole sheep  ) I love crosses. You can get the best of different sheep- BFL crosses, Shetland crosses, Romney crosses. Love a long staple length...


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

I've enjoyed spinning a number of sheep breeds as well as alpacas, angora, buffalo, camel, .... yak and zebu. There's some that were fun and some that were truly frustrating. I'm actually enjoying my alpaca/merino blend as the merino adds a bit more bounce to the alpaca. I know that others don't like the pills of the merino, but I leave them in there for added texture and interest in the yarn. I'll use a colored alpaca with a white merino fleece (or vice versa) so that the pills stand out. But then I'm into textured yarns and not wanting my yarns to look like commercial stuff.


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## pyrobear (Nov 10, 2006)

a clean fleece:teehee::teehee:


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## FMO3 (Nov 22, 2009)

Well...my favorite wool to spin is off my favorite sheep. Romney, followed by a RomneyXCoopworth. To me these wool are very easy to wash, card, comb and spin. Plus, they wear for a long time. I have a pair of socks, that was out of a ewe that I had...the socks are going on 7 years old. Still wear them every winter. Most of the wool, that I have spun in the last 10 to 14 years has been a longwool.

But, I started off years ago, with a Rambouillet grease fleece. I spun that whole thing, in the grease, washed the yarn to try to get it clean...only to felt the living stuffings out of it. My skein turned into a great dog toy. 

To me the perfect is the type that you like to prepare and work with. Be it either Merino or Lincoln. You have to find what you like, and then it all will be a joy to work with. Don't waste time with shotty wool, there is to much produced in the US to mess with less than average wool.


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