I owe my love for Border Leicester sheep to a lady from the thumb area
of Michigan. Janet McPeck sold me my first Border Leicester fleece.
It was a black lamb fleece that was so dark and so clean, I actually asked
her if it had already been washed! I had been spinning for about eleven
years by that time and had never held anything so wonderful in my hands.
I was captivated.
Like many people, I’d heard about Border Leicester wool but it was not
a common breed back in the late 1980s, at least not in Michigan. What
I’d heard was that it was a long wool and a coarse wool. What I had
never heard but have learned along the way is that it has an incredible hand,
a luster that takes dye gorgeously and it will wear beautifully without pilling.
It is very versatile wool, making wonderful yarn both spun pure and blended
with other fibers.
Border Leicester fleece comes in natural white and natural colored.
Most of the natural white fleeces I’ve handled, both from my sheep and other
flocks, are very white-white. Occasionally we get a white animal whose
wool is a more cream color. The white-white fleeces take dye well without
changing the color. The cream fleeces also dye well, but make the
colors a bit warmer.
Natural black Border Leicester fleeces are common. There are different
genes that lead to an animal having black fleece, one is dominant and one
is recessive. It is believed that the dominant black sheep has a fleece
that will stay quite black for several years before starting to silver.
The recessive black sheep will begin to silver as young as a yearling.
I have seen this happen within my flock. Both types of black sheep
will have black faces and legs throughout their lives, it is only the wool
that changes color. Some silver down to a very light color, which makes
for interesting and beautiful yarns when dyed.
Natural silver Border Leicester sheep do crop up from time to time but
are not common. These sheep will have a silver color to their faces
and legs as well as their wool. Moorit and other brown colors have
not appeared in the Border Leicester breed in any significant number, and
perhaps those available are the result of out crossing.
All natural colored sheep are prone to sun bleaching. This creates
the illusion of a brown sheep when viewed out on pasture. But the face
and legs, which have normal hair and not wool, will remain the sheep’s true
color. The sun bleached area of the fleece is a very small portion
of the fiber length. It will not normally affect the overall color of
the wool when carded together. However, some people prefer to cut off
the sun bleached ends before washing the fleece.
No matter the color, Border Leicester wool should be full of luster.
The natural shine of this fleece helps to enhance the dyed colors but also
enhances the natural colors by the way light plays off the fibers.
It resembles mohair in this property, but with all the elasticity of wool.
And the curls! The best Border Leicester fleeces should be loaded
with curls the diameter of a pencil or even thinner. Many doll makers
purchase the locks for making doll hair and Santa beards. It’s perfect!
But the curls can also be used, simply teased and not carded, to create some
wonderful and interesting novelty yarns.
Border Leicester wool is a long wool, growing up to 12” per year, so the
sheep are shorn twice a year. It is also classified as coarse wool
based on the diameter of the fibers. However, the luster and curls combine
to give it a very nice hand, a silky feeling that just slides through your
fingers. The finest fleeces are the lamb fleeces, which I find no problem
to wear right next to my skin. The silky texture is not lost with the
age of the sheep either. I find my oldest ram fleeces still have it
and while they may be too coarse for a next-to-the-skin sweater, they make
fantastic socks and outer wear that can take hard wear and tear.
If you haven’t tried any Border Leicester wool, treat yourself to some!
It is an easy to spin wool even for the newest beginning spinner. If
you haven’t seen a Border Leicester and wonder what they look like, you can
see photos of them here at Twin Willows Farm.
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