A sheepish aside

A handsome Cormo

There hasn't been loads on here recently about my spinning and knitting, but believe me I am. I'm nearly done with a handspun cardigan, and just finished a handspun cabled beret last night. But I think this is worthy of a public announcement.

In 1959 an Australian farmer looked at his prizewinning merino flock and decided the sheep weren't productive enough - that is, they weren't making enough lambies on the dodgy Australian pastures. So he crossed in some Corriedale lines - all the while selecting for the best possible fleece - and developed the Cormo breed. The fleece is as soft as merino, but stronger, and the sheep are more pest resistant, produce more young, and are better parents.

In the late 20th century more and more wool processing facilities closed down in Australia. We even lost the small-scale, innovative research facility, the CSIRO scour, a few years ago.

But the Cormo is still a rare breed. A Melbourne woman, Kylie Gusset, is crowdsourcing the raise funds to process the smallest batch of Cormo that one of our few remaining scours will alow - a ton. It's operating like a co-op, so you can buy in to receive yarn or handspinning fibre from a super-high quality flock of Cormo sheep that are sustainably farmed in Tassie. Doesn't matter if you're Australian or international (I don't think). Go donate at Ton of Wool, and you can follow her efforts on the ravelry thread here.

new wheel

I'd been feeling I've reached the limit of my Ashford traditional (inherited from mah mama) for a while, and had saved enough for a new wheel of my choice, but had so many Life Things happening (new dogs, new house, wedding) that I held off buying one until I had some time to savour it.

Now is the time. Majacraft Suzie Pro, with custom black whorl and flywheel instead of the standard green, because green doesn't go with the colourscheme of my study (yeah, I'm serious).


I've had it for only 48 hours and I heart it. It's a dream to spin on. And I love how little floorspace it takes up compared to the Traditional. I love castle wheels for that reason.

handspun stash

I was trying to build an impromptu lightbox when Buddy, our comically sooky rescue dog, wandered into the middle of the all action and decided it was the right spot for a nap. He didn't even mind when I shoved all this yarn under his arm.

I learnt to spin.

Can you tell which was taken with BCB's fancy new DSLR, and which was snapped on my old point'n'shoot? Mmm...

Anyway, obviously, learning to spin. That pale brown thing (corriedale) is my first yarn. Spun half on a spindle (which taught me to draft), then half on a wheel (when the slow pace of the spindle killed me). Bouncy green aran-y-worsted-y weight merino came next. Then came some mauvey DK weight (that was supposed to be sock weight... hmmm...). All of those were from Bilby Yarns.

And then the top picture. I'm currently working on some batts from Enchanted Knoll Farm. I subscribed to the batt club when I was having a bad week and the idea of mystery parcels with guaranteed sparkles in them seemed like the best thing I could think of.

I'm finding the batts a lot more difficult to spin than the roving (or was it sliver or tops? I dunno). The fiber gets into clumpy little bumps more easily than roving (or sliver or tops?). I like the fibers to slip past each other nicely. But luckily for all concerned, I think that particular colourway (Cabaret) will look pretty cheerful with slubs and being a bit thick and thin.