{"id":6295,"date":"2021-04-10T08:08:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T06:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=6295"},"modified":"2021-04-10T08:08:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T06:08:04","slug":"a-coloured-fleece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/a-coloured-fleece\/","title":{"rendered":"A coloured fleece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year ago I bought a coloured fleece<\/a> at a fleece market. Or two, actually. One brown and one grey. I didn’t mean to, but they called my name and there was nothing I could do. Today I sort the brown V\u00e4rmland fleece<\/a> and dive into its depths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a soft spot for coloured fleeces. In online courses and webinars I usually work with white wool since it shows better on camera (at least with my limited photo skills). But a coloured fleece has a whole new dimension to dive in to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pax, a coloured fleece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The diversity of the coloured fleece is what lures me to dive deep and lose myself in the shades. Not only are there spots of different colours, but the tip and the cut ends can be different in colour, as can the undercoat and outercoat. There is so much to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A brown V\u00e4rmland fleece of many shades.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Walnut, hazel, driftwood and umber<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I decide to sort the locks of the V\u00e4rmland sheep<\/a> Pax’s fleece into piles of different colours. I start roughly by picking out all the darker walnut staples I can find. They are disappearingly soft and quite short, some seemingly too short to spin. They seem to consist of mostly undercoat. Perhaps they have grown around Pax’s neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Four
Four shades of Pax’s fleece \u2013 umber, driftwood, hazel and walnut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also find two shades of grayish brown \u2013 light hazel and slightly darker driftwood. Both colour staples are silky soft and have bleached tips. The fibers are not as fine as the walnut fibers, but for some reason these lighter coloured staples feel silkier. Perhaps because I don’t expect it. The different feel of the piles give me a hint that the colours will feel different to draft. I need to keep that in mind when I spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The different coloured staples of Pax’s fleece are also different in texture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The driftwood pile grows larger and larger and I sort it again to look for more shades. I find something of a mix between the driftwood and the walnut. Umber, perhaps. I could probably go on and find more fractions of colours. However, for the project I have in mind I want some distinction between the shades and I am happy with my colour quartet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New dimensions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I look at the staples I see that there are still more colours than the four I have sorted out. There are different colour fibers in each staple. Most of the walnut staples are solid walnut, but the others sparkle of different shades. This brings even more depth in the wool and in the yarn I have planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The outercoat of the different colours look darker than the undercoat in all four cases. The hazel undercoat (bottom right) seem to still have at least two colours even after the separation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though the staples feel a bit different from pile to pile, the distribution of undercoat and outercoat seem fairly similar \u2013 a lot of airy undercoat and a few strands of strong outercoat. For this reason I would say that most of the staples are of vadmal type<\/a> according to the Swedish tradition of classifying staple types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vadmal type staples like these with mostly airy undercoat and a few strands of outercoat make perfect carding candidates \u2013 the crimpy and unruly undercoat fibers will help building air pockets in the rolags and the longer and stronger outercoat fibers will marry them together, creating a reliable reinforcement in the midst of the cuddly soft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colour scheme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I separate the colours because I want to show them one by one. To do that I need to find a combination that doesn’t blur them all together. I play and move around until I land in harmony. Walnut, hazel, umber, driftwood and back to walnut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n