This was a fascinating fiber to spin. I deliberately don’t look information up about the fibers as I’m spinning as not to be biased but here’s some basic info on the Herdwick sheep.
The fiber is wirey, most similar to a goat or dog coat but still a 3 inch staple. It is very pokey and stuck out a lot when spinning. It would probably be good for weaving and outerwear, or as the wiki says, carpets!
As I spun, the fibers were very slippery, they slid past each other as I drafted and didn’t really catch on each other like most wools do. As far as I can tell, it didn’t really have the scales like a standard wool. Slower treadling, drafting and take up is really recommended to spin a finer wool with this because of the tendancy to slide rather than catch.
Once on the bobbin it was super squishy!
I really enjoyed spinning this because it was so different than most wools you spin and work with.
After finishing, it didn’t really change any of it’s characteristics since it is so wirey. Definitely do not chain ply this like I did for the 3 ply. Didn’t turn out well. I’d recommend a 2 ply from two different bobbins, it worked really well.
