The lovely Sarah and I ordered a huge haul of wool from British rare breeds from the UK eBay dealer ForestFibres. If you’ve ever got a hankering to try out some old breed wool, I highly recommend them! In honor of Flash Your Fiber Stash day (and to kick off a newly rejuvenated set of blog posts now that I’ve got a decent camera again), here are some photos of our loot.

First up is some lovely black Wensleydale curls. I admit that I had some trepidation about buying Wensleydale - I hadn’t had the best experience trying to spin it initially - but I’m so glad we picked this up. The luster is incredible, but this stuff is still remarkably soft - much more so than I had imagined. Check out the cool white hairs mixed in with the black and bleached-blonde tips:

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Next is some Manx Loaghtan (no, I don’t know how to pronounce that either - do you?) I think this might be my favorite of the bunch. It’s a medium-grade wool, I would say about as soft as a good Shetland fleece. What I love is the color - it has these amazing cinnamon tones mixed in with honey-blonde tips and just a hint of darker brown here and there. It’s got a nice crimp and a good 4″ staple, too:

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This Ryeland is a much rougher, more rugged fleece - I would describe this one as a velvety Brillo pad. It’s coarse and crinkly, with a 3″ staple. Despite its coarseness, though, it’s still soft enough to be good for an outdoor garment:

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A strong contrast is the North Ronaldsay. This is my favorite of the fleeces so far, with the softest hand of the bunch and the most unusual appearance. The lightest possible grey is peppered through with scattered black hairs, giving the fleece a lovely heathered sort of effect. I would say that this fleece is way down in micron count - this is soft as good Merino, perfect for against-the-skin wear:

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Even softer are these unspeakably nice Gotland lamb locks. I’m interested enough in the softness and luster of this one to consider looking into Gotland roving:

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I have an obsession (obvious by now perhaps) with colored fleeces, but there were some notable white fleeces as well. These Cotswold curls are particularly luscious - long, lustrous, and eerily like human hair:

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There’s Norfolk Horn, a nice short-stapled medium-fine wool with beautiful tiny crimps (although this one included the most Genuine Sheep Doo):

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Similar to Bluefaced Leicester in feel, the Portland doesn’t have too much lock structure left after washing to know precisely what it’s like in its original form; as a washed fleece, though, it’s exceptionally white and sproingy:

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…more to come! Next up: Black Welsh Mountain, Leicester Longwool, and more…