The first post of an occasional series about different sheep breeds raised on Vancouver Island and the uses for their fleece.
by Heather Cameron
Sabine Blackburn keeps three East Friesian sheep for milk on her small farm in Cedar. (They are due to lamb in May, so soon there will be more.) She was curious about how the fleece might be used, so I spun up a few samples for her.
At the centre top of the photo is a handful of raw fleece from a sheep that has both black and white wool. To the right of it is a bulky singles that would be excellent in a rug or for an outdoor sweater. Going clock-wise, there is a finer two ply (one white, one black) that feels surprisingly soft – would make great socks or a vest. Next up is a small piece of fleece that I wet felted, just to see if such a sturdy fibre would actually felt. It did! The last sample is a carded blend of both white and black parts of the fleece, that I spun as a very soft, slubby single, then plied with a sewing thread. It knit up beautifully – would make a great sweater.
The staple length is 5-6″, and it is not very crimpy. No undercoat. On the coarse side – but I was very surprised at how versatile it was to work with. Give East Friesian fleece a try!
For more on East Friesian sheep:
Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers: https://wool.ca/page/east-friesian-diary-sheep
Canadian Sheep Breeders’ Association: https://sheepbreeders.ca/east-friesen-katahdin
BC Purebred Sheep Breeders’ Association: https://bcsheep.com/eastfriesian.htm and https://bcsheep.com/breeds/index.html#eastfriesian
RaisingSheep.net online resources: https://www.raisingsheep.net/east-friesian-sheep