[Fieldfare]

Hi all-I have fleece from 6 Castlemilk Moorits (fleeces are in bits as I am not very good at shearing  - but it is nice and clean and dry). £25 for the lot or would swap for a perecentage of the resulting spun wool. Collection from Sheffield only.
Thanks,

[SallyintNorth]

What staple length you got, Fieldfare?

[goosepimple]

Rare Breed Survival Trust could sell them for you if you give them a % of the profits.  Bye the way, just saw an add on your thread for Wool Coffins!  That's a new one on me I must say!  They look like large violin cases.  Very nice.

[Fieldfare]

Hi SITN- staple length? no idea! They are all registered. I'm sure I'll find a loca spinner who I can do a deal with...or get my own wheel...just far too busy to get yet another hobby

[goosepimple]

Hi again, I have read that cm fleeces should only be spun by an experienced spinner - their fleeces are very soft.

[omnipeasant]

I would agree. The fleeces are very soft so either mix with some other wool or go gently.

[SallyintNorth]

Hi SITN- staple length? no idea!

Staple length is the length of each fibre.  From the cut end to the tip.  My own Castlemilk Moorits' fleeces are very very short, and it is this very short staple, rather than the softness, which makes them not a novice spin - and, when spun, not a strong yarn, unless mixed with some other, stronger fibre.

I'm still very much a novice spinner, and cannot at the moment make anything of my own CM fleece.  So I am learning to blend, to card and to do 'woollen draw', all of which techniques I will need to use to process my own beautiful CM fleeces.

[goosepimple]

We have Ronaldsays (fleeces are very soft) and Soays, but the Moorits are the most beautifully proportioned, like Roe Deer when shorn, lovely beasties, wish ours weren't quite so jumpy

[SallyintNorth]

We have Ronaldsays (fleeces are very soft)

You're not kidding!  I just ordered a ball of Ronaldsay fibre from Scottish Fibres out of interest and I can hardly make myself wait to get spinning with it - I've never felt anything quite like it!  (Will report again when I finish other current projects, or otherwise find an excuse to start on the Ronaldsay... )

[goosepimple]

At the Border Union Show at the weekend they had lots of different fleeces on show (including my Moorit and Ronaldsay and Rosemary's Ryeland I believe) and they had an Alpaca fleece there too - it was definitely the softest by quite a long chalk, felt as soft as angel hair you put on a Christmas tree - they still look like a sheep with a stretched neck to me though