{"id":3142,"date":"2019-06-29T08:16:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T06:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=3142"},"modified":"2019-06-29T08:16:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T06:16:30","slug":"a-multicoloured-fleece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/a-multicoloured-fleece\/","title":{"rendered":"A multicoloured fleece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the 2018 Swedish fleece championships<\/a> I bought a bronze medal winning multicoloured fleece. The shepherdess didn’t really want to part with it, but she also knew that no spinning mill would be able to show the beautiful colours as a hand spinner would. In the end she was kind enough to sell me the fleece and now I have the honour and responsibility of making something beautiful of her baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A yummy multicoloured fleece.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meet Chanel, a multicoloured sheep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The sheep’s name is Chanel (how’s that for a superstar!). She is a 75 % H\u00e4rjedal and 25 % \u00c5sen sheep. This is her lamb’s fleece. Chanel lives with her flock and shepherdess Birgitta Lindh Andersson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A multicoloured sheep, H\u00e4rjedal\/\u00c5sen mixbreed Chanel as a lamb. Photo by Birgitta Lindh Andersson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fleece has soft undercoat and long, strong outercoat. Do I have to mention the shine? It has it. A deep and golden shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The depth of the colours and variations is spectacular. In the picture above she looks mostly brown, but her main colour is actually some sort of latte swirl with dark brown to light golden tips. The colour varies over the fleece. Since the short undercoat and long outercoat have different colours there is also a colour variation over the staples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Staples
The variation in Chanel’s multicoloured fleece is spectacular.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And look at those sweet lamb’s curls! The corkscrew curled tips are a sure sign that you are dealing with a lamb’s fleece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Curly
Lamb’s curls to die for.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Capturing the colours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the fleece is truly mesmerizing, trying to capture the colours in a yarn is a challenge. Processing them together would just lead to a porridge-coloured result. Even dividing the staples by colour may give a bland result if you card or comb each colour separately. Not only is the fleece in different colours over the body of the sheep, they are also in different shades over the length of the staple. I can use my superpowers as a hand spinner, though, and create a yarn that no spinning mill would be able to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shades of coffee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I decided to try and divide the staples according to colour. It was a challenge, since the colour varied over the staples. But I started to make a rough estimation of the different colour themes and finished with some fine-tuning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Five
Finding the different colours in the fleece.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I ended up with five different piles of fluff, that after some consideration turned into four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n