Book Review - The Wonder of Wool

 Why, yes, I forgot I had this corner of the internet. 

I recently had a birthday, and with that came some unexpected money. So I splurged on some books. 

To help keep things organized in my own head, and to help give others a peek on different books, I figured I'd write a review. 

Book Cover: The Wonder of Wool

The basics: 
The Wonder of Wool: A Knitter's Guide to Pure Breed Sheep (Hardcover)
by Justine Lee and Jess Morency

Published: August 19, 2025 by David & Charles
ISBN: 9781446315453 (ISBN10: 1446315452) 


I totally judged this book by it's cover. The cover is a black and white photograph of a sheep. It's gorgeous, as are the other photographs of sheep (sheeps) inside. 

At the start, it's a quick overview of a few things, and off we go. 

Now, I am probably not the intended target for this book. I will admit to being more of a spinner than a knitter now a days, and this book does say on the cover "A Knitter's Guide". For a book that's 144 pages, I was hoping for more pages devoted to sheep breeds and didn't expect more than half the book to be knitting patterns. The patterns look gorgeous, and I like that they used all natural colors for the different projects. That said, if you have a larger chest, like I do, know that a 50" chest is the upper limit. Each pattern is preceded by one of those gorgeous black and white photos of a sheep in the breed that's being highlighted. 

The coverage of the sheep breeds are divided up Primitive, Longwool, and Short Wool/Down, with a decent number in each category. There's a brief overview of the breed, a drawing of the breed, some stats about the wool, and some tips for how to best use the wool for spinners and knitters. There's also a picture of a knitted swatch. 

An example, shamelessly stolen from The Woolly Thistle:

Now, I know some people might prefer a photo instead of a sketch/drawing, but the nice thing about the drawing is that you can make it the more average looking sheep from that breed. It gives you an idea instead of a real world example. I actually like it, especially with the gorgeous (yes, I keep using that word) photographs later in the book. 

The layout is very clean and readable. One thing I would have loved, but I've only seen it in one book on sheep, is how feltable all the different breeds are. They do mention if the fleece of a breed is particularly feltable or felt resistant, but that's the exception. 

In the last few pages, they do give people an idea of where to get the (mostly) yarn from the different breeds, but I worry about how quickly that might be out of date. 

One thing I was dismay to not find was a bibliography or work cited or list of references. There are a few books on the final page that are listed under the "For Further Reading" list, but it makes me wonder where they got their information from. I'm not even talking AI or plagiarism, but a list of references is rather like showing your work in math in that it lets the rest of us see how you got your answers. It also gives those of us who are massive nerds places to look for more in-depth read. 

This will probably sit on my shelf for a quick reference, but I have others that go more in-depth and have more breeds. However, the other books do not have this beautiful cover or photos inside. 

As a sheep nerd and spinner, I'd give it a 3 out of 5. If you can spare the money, sure, get it for the pretties and maybe the patterns. But there are better books, but this one is more up to date on staple length and fleece weights. 

Presentation for Maidens

 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Qo2Uk6YycL2UebKqzV7Y1FTmN8-Kl0Vx0zibXdMDUE4/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

Not dead yet!

We've been busy the last year, and didn't update this as often as we'd like.

So, this year, we'll be getting back to updating this with short articles about different breeds. Right now, we're washing some Clun Forest, and it's a lovely fiber that more people should know about. Look back for an update on 1/23.

We're also going to be doing more dye experiments, as well as posting some sheepy thoughts and wool gatherings.

We're still up to our ears in unwashed wool, several hundred pounds of it! All different breeds, and from all over the world.

Right now, we have some Cheviot on the wheel, some Clun Forest in the tub, and some Jacob drying. And two cats that like making a slash in the tub water.

Cheers!

What we've been up to

As of late, I've been up to my ears in unwashed wool.

I don't think of that as a problem, but Mr. WoolWeed isn't fond of it.

Right now, I have close to 100 lbs of wool that I'm in the process of washing, and of that a wide variety of breeds - everything from British Milk Sheep to Zwartble.

While I wash and process, I'll try to get back to posting about the different breeds.

Manx L.

Egads! Where did the month go?!

The long promised post about another of our favorite breeds - the Manx Loaghtan.

Another primitive breed, often with four horns (though two horns are not uncommon, six horned animals are), they are a breed that is worth getting to know better. The fleece has a wonderful "squooshy" quality to it (dense, but fluffy). The fleece is often a wonderful, warm brown (often described as chocolate), with tips that bleach out to a cream.

Some of the things I find fascinating about the Manx breed is that they are a hardy breed, and while the are known for being from the Isle of Man, it wasn't until recently that they were a source of pride for the Isle. They were almost extinct until the middle of the 20th century. One gentleman, George Steriopulos, saw some being sold at a market for "next to nothing". Steriopulos realized that the Manx were a primitive breed that didn't " conform to modern marketing standards."

Manx is best spun with a short draw/draft. It's a lovely fiber, but might be frustrating for a beginner. However, it's well worth seeking out once you're comfortable with a shorter fiber.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/isleofman/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8333000/8333801.stm

Perendale with lily of the valley

So, it's that time of year when everything is coming up. I've been wanting to dye with lily of the valley for a while, ever since I had read about it and how you can get a green from it.

Doing research, many of the books/websites and more suggested a ratio of 2:1 of plant material to wool. I would definitely up it to 3:1 or even 4:1.

I started with:

5.4 ounces of lily of the valley (leaves and flower buds)

2.6 ounces of Perendale fleece (washed) mordanting in .5T alum and .5t CoT.

Leaves were harvested at night and put into a 6 ounce crock pot. Wool was soaked and entered into the dye bath several hours later. (It took a long time to extract any sort of dye color.)

Added about two more ounces of leaves, and some color could eventually be seen, left the leaves in, and let it soak on low for a while, and then turned off and let cool.

After several days of sitting in the crock pot, I reheated the dye bath with the wool in it. It seems to have given a pale, apple green. Left some leaves in there, added about 11 ounces of new leaves and turned on high to try to extract more color. Have 4.1 ounces of wool mordanting in  alum/CoT. Not sure if all of it will go to the lily of the valley bath, but most will.

It is definitely a pale, pale color, more like a tint. Worth trying again, and experimenting with.

One of the books talked about adding Glauber's salts and Tartaric acid to the dye bath. That's something to look into for next time. 

Logwood

I had an ounce of logwood powder sitting around for some time, and decided it was high time to do something with it. Friday night (1/1/2016), I mixed the logwood powder with some water, and then decided that more water would be better. I moved it to a larger mason jar, and added just boiling water, some vinegar, and it's been sitting ever since. Tonight, I hope to remember to start mordanting some wool and see how the logwood dyes up.

I've been informed by Ian the Green (or Grene)'s wife that I will look like I have blood on my hands. I'm rather excited about that. For some reason, dyEing is more fun when it's messy and leaves your hands different colors than they started.

Which reminds me that I need to move the blocks of ice that are the walnut extracts I have outside so they can thaw and I can use them. If I do it tomorrow, I might have enough to bring to a demo on Wednesday.

Soay

I just bagged Soay. The last fleeces I put through the fermented suint method, and finally washed it the other week, and it's been drying for about a week.

The fleece is interesting, containing both gorgeous, soft fleece (think undercoat) and some really coarse bits. It's say there's under/over coat, but the coarse bits seem more like from the shanks.

It would seem that Soay is one of those sheep breeds that is a living example of what was. According to sheep101.info - "The Soay has been called the only living example of the small, primitive sheep which inhabited the British Isles before the coming of the Norsemen and Romans."

Soay is a primitive breed named for an island off the west coast of Scotland. The island of Soay  is located in the St. Kilda Archipelago, and is believed to have been settled during the Bronze Age. The sheep were put on their own island (named by the Norse, and means "sheep", so the island is "sheep" and the breed is "sheep"), while early man lived on other islands in the archipelago. The Soay have survived without any interference from humans, with the exception of yearly trips to collect wool (which is shed, not shorn.) In 1932, some of the sheep were moved to St. Kilda, establishing another feral population. (The people of the island had been evacuated previous to then.) Small numbers are located on the main land of the United Kingdom, as well as in Canada and the United States. The Soay in the United States were crossed with other hair sheep, and are called "American Soay" to differentiate them from the "British Soay" which has a "purer" lineage.

The Rare Breed Survival Trust (a charity aimed at preserving native breeds in the UK from extinction), lists the Soay as "At Risk", meaning there are between 900-1500 registered breeding ewes.


http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/soay-sheep.aspx
https://www.rbst.org.uk/sheep-information
http://soaysheep.com/about-soay-sheep.shtml
http://soaysheep.org/soay.html

Daffy dills

So, I chopped off a lot of my daffodils today. I have about 1.2 oz of them, and might go back and cut off the rest of them.

I'm going to try dyeing wool with them. I've hear rumors that the flowers will give (to the surprise of very few people) a clear, bright yellow.

I have the plants and it's worth a shot, no?

I also picked the stems (about 1.2 oz) and will see what I get from them. Not going to cost me a lot other that some wool, so it should be a fun experiment to do tonight. :)

Fermented Suint method

I know I promised the next post to be about Manx Loaghtan breed*, but I've been processing a Merino X, and this fleece is one that I processed using a fermented suint method. The fermented suint method is a "soak, sit, and wait" sort of method where you soak the raw fleeces in water for about a week (outside, trust me on that), and the fleece essentially cleans it self. Mostly.

Having come across several article on it, I decided to dive in. And to do that, I was going to collect rainwater. So I waited for it to rain. And eventually gave up and used tap water.Now, one of the main reasons this washing method appealed to me was that it will use less water over all, as well as less soap and detergents. Something that greatly appealed to me, as I do my best to lesson my impact on the environment.

There is still one to two hot washes with soap and detergent, one vinegar rinse, and one final overall rinse, but that's down from 3-4 washes, and 3-4 rinses.

I've been trying to figure out why this method of fleece washing works - many people will say that the sweat (suint) contains potassium salts and when that mixes with the grease (lanolin) it creates a soap that essentially washes the individual hairs itself.

That does not explain the smell. Oh, the smell. It's a mix of sulfur, perm solution, and sewer water. Not exactly perfume, but one does get used to it as best one can. Talking with a brewer friend of mine, he mentioned that there is also bacterial reactions going on, which would account for that smell. There are times in brewing when a very similar smell occurs. It also explains why, when the fleece is dry (and the bacteria dead), the smell goes away.**

Fleeces washed in this method are not lanolin free. They still retain some lanolin in them, which is making processing them fun. (I like lanolin, and so do my hands and nails.) The other benefit is that often the regular washing can leave the fleeces feeling very dry, which can lead to more breaking. (Think of dry ends on human hair.) The fact that this fleece is amazing to begin with, and still has just a touch of lanolin, will make spinning this something I'm going to look forward to.

Unfortunately, with the weather turning cooler, I'm not going to be able to use this method for much longer. However, I plan on using it next years as early as I can.

* - the spelling of the breed is one of those that I mangle easily. I've thought about just referring to the breed as Manx L. for ease, but I should figure out how to spell the breed. One of these years...

** - there have been a few people who have reported that no matter what they did, the fermented suint bath smell did not go away. I have yet to have that problem, and while I can speculate why their fleece still smells (stinks to high heaven and back), I don't know for sure. If it ever happens, I'll post about it. I will say that they bags I use to wash the fleeces in are starting to stink. Given that they are mostly nylon (plastic), I can see where they would pick up the smell. But it's very faint.

Kerry Hill

I've been a bit remiss in posting! I do apologize, and hope that with winter coming I can carve out more time to post about different topics!

During the past year, I purchased some Kerry Hill fleeces (my husband refers to it as part of my presidential wannabees collection along with the Romney fleeces I have. I find that amusing as Kerry Hill is native to Wales originally, and the UK in general in modern times.). It's one of the many breeds that I wanted to work with* after I read a bit about it in The Fleece and Fiber Source Book. I will say I have a soft spot for anything that is listed as being on a watch list (similar to being placed on the endangered species list in the US, more information can be found https://www.rbst.org.uk/sheep-information ). I like being able to purchase the raw fleeces, roving, or anything I can to support those that are preserving the diverse breeds of sheep. People seem to think that sheep are either white or black, and that they all look the same.

This is a picture of a Kerry Hill sheep:

(Image taken from www.sheep101.info - a great place to go for anything sheep related)

While they have the shape most people expect from a sheep, the coloring is very different.

And I'm glad to purchase raw Kerry Hill, even though they are now a "Success Story" and no longer on a watch list in the UK. They are simply listed as a Native Breed, which is awesome.

So, having the two fleeces washed, I'm finally getting around to carding them, and then will comb them. It's a lovely white, with a good bit of springiness to it! Can't wait until I've got enough to spin.

Here's to Kerry Hill - a conservation success story. Let us hope there are many, many more. (Like Manx Laoghton, which is another of my favorites, and one that has had a fascinating impact on an island next to the Isle of Man. I'll post more about that next time.)

Time to get to wool working!

* For the record, pretty much any breed I don't have I want to work with! Doubly true of Conservation Breeds, Rare Trust Breeds, and anything a bit unique!

Busy time of year

If there were ever a time of year that's busier than others, it's definitely spring for me. (Not that the weather has given us much "spring" but we work with what we have.)

The tubs have been put to good use in the recent days -  there's been a Gotland X that's been washed, FINALLY finished washing all the Cheviot, and am working my way through a Merino X right now. To add to the washing, I've taken on a processing/spinning project that deals with a Jacob fleece. (And a lovely one it is!) Time to start figuring out what I want to dye it as I continue to work on the carding/combing of the fleece. Half the fleece is mine, so I'm just trying to get done the part I have to send back - including the spinning and dyeing.

And as I dye the Jacob, I'll also be throwing in my friend Gypsy's yarn. She's had some of my other dye jobs, and this time has requested warm colors - so madder root and something else... Going to try giving hers a partial overdye.

Now to the "day" job that's paying the bills for the moment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring cleaning

Spring is here (for the moment)! The chorus frogs are practicing their songs and plants are starting to push up through the ground. The brown grass is changing to green almost overnight. My favorite time of year - it's just magical.

It also means that it's time to break out any raw fleeces for washing, which is another favorite thing of mine to do. Today, I laid out a Cheviot fleece I purchased last September, skirted it, and am preparing to wash it. All told, it's overwintered extremely well in my garage and in a plastic bag. It may have helped that this winter was so bitter and cold (and really, really long). I wasn't too worried about it being in the plastic, but I was worried about insects and mice, and it seems like the bar of soap in the bag helped keep pests away.

There is a lot of discussion about storing raw fleeces in plastic bags. I will say that I understand concerns, but I've yet to have a pillow case keep out bugs. Or contain as much of the smell, which is important when you have six bags of them in your car. Not that I know anything about that. :)

Well, I need to go finish washing one Jacob fleece (such a gorgeous fleece!) and finish prepping the Cheviot for its turn in the tubs. And also, most importantly, just go outside and enjoy the fact that spring has arrived. (For the moment. This is the Midwest, after all.)

Spring time!

With the warmer weather (and being in the Chicago area, that means anything about 20F), my thoughts turn to two things: gardening and washing raw wool. Not the most exciting things, I know, but I'm content with it - both provide a heck of a workout!

The benefit of washing fleece is that often you can get it for a lot cheaper than roving. The downside? It can take more time/resources to make useable. Some people do spin yarn "in the grease" meaning they spin unscoured (unwashed) fleece into yarn and then wash it afterwards.  Some say that it helps the yarn keep some of the lanolin, which can make the spinning easier, but others think "ew". I'm not opposed to raw fleeces, obviously, but most of the spinning I do is in the house. Mr. WoolWeed hasn't been fond of the raw fleece smell, so it gets washed (or stored in the garage). One of these years, I'll give it a try.

So, if you have more time than money, you can buy a fleece for fairly cheap, depending on what you're looking for and where you are. At a Sheep/Wool/Fiber Festival, you maybe able to pick a full fleece up for $10 (I did). Yes, there are much more expensive fleeces out there, just as there are more expensive roving/spinning fibers. If you look for general raw fleeces (and avoid the ones that say "rare" or "lamb" or "first cutting") you can generally find good prices. Nothing beats a festival, though, when you can talk to the owners and often see the animals.

(I'll plug the Wisconsin Wool and Sheep Festival here, as it was a fantastic event, despite the hotter than hell day. Sheep were being sheared right on sight, and there was a 'meet and greet' of different sheep breeds. Fantastic event!)

Now, washing fleece can be labor intensive - depending on how you set up. There are people who use washing machines and more. I do it a little more old fashioned - I use tubs. Depending on how many things I'm washing I either use one tub or two, and do three washes - more or less if needed, and three rinses, the first of which will have some vinegar to help rinse the soap. Some fleeces take just one or two washes, and I've had one that took five. I carry the waste water outside to dump, as I back up to a wetlands, with an area I put in to help filter the water (rain garden). That's a lot of 5 gal buckets, mostly full, to cart and dump. And if I'm doing one tub - that's a 5 gallon bucket every 20 minutes, and if I'm using 2 tubs... it's every ten. Not much rest between carting and lifting. However, I'm getting a fantastic arm workout!

And if you haven't been scared off, and want to do this yourself, I would highly suggest starting with harder to felt fleeces.  Some of the more primitive breeds are harder to felt. Dorset, Ryeland, Manx L., and several others are hard/darn hard to felt. Stay away from merino, and the Down groups unless you're feeling adventurous. (And as far as adventure goes, washing a fleece isn't much of one, is it?)  The main keys to washing a fleece without felting - put it in, push it down until it's fully submerged and wet, and then leave it. Walk away and go set the timer. Come back when the timer goes off. :)
Washing a fleece has some benefits -  I'm always amazed at the difference in color and texture between raw fiber and washed. And I did that. I may not have the world's cleanest floors, but I can take dingy fleece and turn it into sparkling white. Yes, my fleece does have those funky little star effects. I may only imagine them, but they're there. ;)

Why buy handmade?

Some time ago, when I was first having fun with a drop spindle and spinning my own yarn, there was a curious woman. She asked me what I was doing, and then asked me if I knew I could buy yarn at a store.

I'm sure she thought she was funny.

But there are people out there that will ask us why we would make something that we can go to the store to buy. Society also seems to degrade the work that goes into craft work - it's a hobby, it's something to do in addition to "real" jobs or "real" work.

When I buy roving or fleece, I am generally buying from the shepherd/farmer. There are a few exceptions, but I'm never more than two people removed from the sheep. Often, I can tell you the name of the sheep from which the fleece came. I'm supporting local business, and supporting "hobby" farmers.

I spin the roving I get. Sometimes, I have to wash and/or comb/card the fleece I get first. I have to spend my money to get the supplies, and then spend my time to make the yarn. But everything there is made by one person (and often I can tell you about the breed, the best uses for that type of wool, and if it will felt/full).

When you go to the store, you're buying quantity. You're buying a standardized product. Often, you're buying mostly acrylic (plastic) and some wool. You don't know what type of wool you're buying, or where the animals are located. 

Have I ever bought yarn from a store? Yup. I have. And I still do on occasion. But more and more often, I buy from people like myself who spin it. And when I give a gift, and some one says "Oh, that's nice, a scarf/pair of socks/vest," I do tell them how much time went into making it. Not to make them feel bad, but to make them realize how much I love them. Okay, to make them also realize just how expensive a handmade item is.

Will I get rich spinning wool? Probably not. I hope to make enough to cover the cost of my next fleece purchase, taxes, and maybe a little extra. Enough to keep going and support some of the other "hobbyists" trying to make a living.

Aaaah, Jacob!

There are few fleeces I adore as much as Jacob. And, just to make sure you get a proper rest, I'm here to extoll the virtues of this fantastic breed! (I've been told many times that most people don't find sheep to be all that exciting.)

That being said, I will admit to getting some less than stellar Jacob roving. I'm not sure if the un-Jacob like fleece I received was from a less than honest seller, or an off sheep, but it was unpleasant to work with, and will be felted into something. However, that was one seller.

And where to start? First off, I love the fact that there are several colors on one fleece. Multicolors, one fleece. Being able to blend colors, spin a different color when you get sick of looking at the same one you've been spinning, and there's a nice ability to ply the different colors together for a nice effect. It spins up well, and knits up beautifully. It was the second roving I ever spun, and it was just amazing. My spinning was vastly improved over the "starter wool" I had been given. The dark colors also have some light colored pieces in it, giving it an amazing effect. Some of my first spinning, I ended up over-dyeing with indigo. It is a fabulous, almost black color, with those light pieces turning bright blue. A wonderful effect!

Jacob is also a primitive looking sheep, with often two sets of horns on any given sheep (male or female), which givens them a fantastic appearance. However, they do not have a double coat like many of the other primitive breeds.

Now, Jacob sheep have two modern lineages - British Jacob and American Jacob. British Jacob over the years were breed to be more of meat sheep, and are a "less" pure strain. The American Jacob, however, has not undergone any breed improvements, and are much closer to the ancestors of the breed.

The exact origin of the breed is still mired in mystery, but it's believed the breed began in Syria, and moved through Africa and Europe. Some point to Jacob in the Bible, gathering spotted sheep to raise, as the reason for the name. There is some research that British gentry kept Jacob sheep on their estates, possibly in the regency era.

One of my favorite reasons that Jacob sheep are awesome and worth investing in is that there this breed is being used to research Tay-Sacs disease. Now, this is one of those reasons that I often support local farms, as well as conservation breeds. A farmer wanted to know the cause of some lambs that had mobility issues, and eventually perished, and wanted to know if there were carrier sheep that shouldn't be breed. After some time, it was discovered that this was a version of Tay-Sachs, a 100% fatal, genetic disease that is found in humans (and it normally kills a child by age 5). When I took a course in genetics (that feels like 100 years ago), I remember Tay-Sachs being mentioned for several reasons - it happens more often in those of Jewish descent and it was one of the first diseases that the medical field tested fetuses for. Those at greater risk are those of eastern European Jewish descent. And Jacob sheep. And now, we have a conservation breed of sheep that is aiding in the research. And people think sheep are boring!

If you are looking for a good breeder of Jacob, I highly recommend Hill and Hollow Farm - www.hillandhollowfarm.com They can also be found on etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/HillandHollowFarm

Welcome to WoolWeed!

Welcome to my corner of the internet, WoolWeed, where I will talk about two main things: sheep and plants.

Spinning is something I learned just a few years ago. It is something that I've enjoyed, and in spinning, I found something that I loved. And not only that, I learning that I loved learning about sheep! About the different sheep breeds, and experiencing the different fleeces/rovings and learning how the different fleeces spun up. I never knew how many different sheep breeds there are, and how different they could be!

I know, it sounds like a weird thing to be interested in. However, I'm proud to say that I geek sheep. And I geek fibers off all sorts. Sheep is my main love, but alpaca, goats, flax, bison. It's all good. (Except bunnies. Bunnies, bunnies, it can't be bunnies!) And the odd thing - I found out that I'm in good company. 

Plants are another thing I geek. I dug up my first garden with I was in 6th grade, and my parents still use it today. Herbs, dye plants, medicinal, natives, trees, medieval, and more. I even took classes and have a few associates in horticulture. I'm a wild child - a nature child - and often come in from outside with dirt streaks on my face and twigs in my hair, and think nothing of it. A day in the garden is second only to a day of spinning outside.

So, welcome to my corner of the world. Plant and fiber geek and general nerd. (And yes, I'm a book worm as well!) Sit for a spell and let me tell you more about my passions!