A little later than anticipated.. I'm just in time for July! I had a request a little while back to look at Swaledale.. so here we go :)
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| Swalesdales websearch photo from npennines-wool.co.uk |
A medium sized, hardy breed of sheep which thrives in hilly and mountainous regions. Gets it's name from the Swaledale Valley in the Yorkshire Dales.
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| Just look at that face! Adorable websearch photo from World of Cumbria Carpets |
Kept for their wool and meat. Swaledale produce an off-white wool which is very hardwearing and often used for carpets and rugs. Staple length ranges between 10cm - 20cm, and micron count is 35 to 45.
My Swaledale came from World of Wool and is a lovely light grey.. much lighter than I had expected, with a staple length of 16cm.
Sampling
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| oops made a mistake embroidering the measurement here! |
Layed out the same as previous samples (20cm x 20cm) with three layers of fibre and felted to achieve maximum shrinkage.
Observations
Feels quite a coarse fibre. It's fairly lofty when you lay the fibre down.. best to wet between layers to help avoid it spreading. Felted fairly quickly.. I found it easiest to work fairly soapy, more so than usual but I often find that with coarser fibre. Made a lovely, strong, thick felt that although you can feel it is strong and firm it's actually soft, slightly fuzzy and very pleasant to touch.
Findings
Finished sample size: 13.8cm x 16cm
Weight: 22.2
Shrinkage: 32% x 20%
Nice fibre for felting projects that need to be hardwearing. I have only found it available in the natural light grey, which I think is really lovely for a natural, even slightly rustic look. One of my friends dyes this light grey wool and achieves absolutely gorgeous colours!
Next time: Swaledale project
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