Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Polish merino

I didn't know what Polish merino was, but I knew I wanted the four colorways that Phia had grouped in her Little Shop of Spinning. After spinning it up, I bought more. And more. And I will probably buy some more. I am simply enamored with this color combination.

Polish merino is a dual-purpose breed of sheep that populates Poland. It all started with some sheep from Spain, and those were later mixed with a bit of this and a bit of that. The result is a wool that is comparable to Blue Faced Leicester, Corriedale, Dorset Down or Llama. Kromski carries a bazillion colors of Polish merino roving.

This blog notwithstanding, I wish I kept better notes with details of just what I am up to on the wheel. From what I can gather, I initially blended the four colors on my drum carder, then spun and chain plied the results. This luscious skein is going to be submitted to the county fair.


Then I spun and paired each color with each other, ending up with six skeins of 2-ply. I like some of the combos better than the others.


Finally, I spun the darkest color for a core yarn, then blended the rest and used them to create an "art yarn" that I later wrapped in gold silk thread. It looks better in this photo than it does in real life. I need to perfect my core spinning skills. (As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the pairings turned out uber kinky. I'm going to call it an art yarn, too.)


I have ideas of what to do with all this yarn, but we'll have to wait and see what I settle on.


Meanwhile, I have even *more* of this fiber to spin, probably as (better) art yarn, but for now, I'm taking a break from the wheel. Other projects are demanding some attention.

No comments: