Mixed-breed Wools: Unpredictable and... Fun! With Deborah Robson

About Mixed-breed Wools: Unpredictable and... Fun! With Deborah Robson

Studying and working with breed-specific wools is invaluable: it provides a baseline for understanding the world of fleeces and grounds for comparison. But what happens when you find your hands being drawn to a mixed-breed fleece? How do you evaluate or approach it? Might there be delights in this fiber unlike anything you’ve experienced before? The short answer to that last question is yes. A challenge comes into the equation when you ask Where can I find more? because the answer is maybe you can, maybe you can’t.

We’ll look at several reasons that mixed-breed fleeces occur: intentional breeding for a specific outcome; the limited availability of rams in a given area; somebody jumped the fence; and other options. And we’ll play with some fleeces that don’t fit into a neat category, although in some cases their existence results from very deliberate shepherding decisions. It’s a wild world of mixed-fiber fleeces, and there’s a lot of fun to be had in it.

Please Note: Deb Robson requests that students wear masks during their class time with her due to some personal health concerns she has.

Materials, Equipment, and Supplies the Student Must Bring to Class

- Spinning wheel or spindle
- Fiber-prep tools of choice (combs, carders, flicker, or any other OR dog-grooming combs or slickers; I will have some of these to share as well)
- The ability to wind a small center-pull ball and ply from it (or skill at Andean plying—which I can teach on site—or a lazy kate and extra bobbins)
- Notepad and pen or pencil
- Optional: Sampling tools as convenient, like knitting needles, crochet hooks, or Weave-It or similar extra-simple loom (some people have time to sample in class; others do not)
- Optional: Tape and/or hole-punch, for keeping track of fiber samples and yarns (I will have some of each for sharing

Materials Fee (to be paid directly to the instructor) and Kit Description

$50 - includes enough fiber for class and then some further experimentation at home—approximately 6 samples (about 150g), full-color printed handouts, sturdy record cards.

Homework

None