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If you missed Maryland Sheep & Wool, I invite you to take a stroll through some sheepy and wooly highlights with me. The video is now up on The Wool Channel’s YouTube channel, and you can also find a link to it in my profile.
I’ve been having great fun spinning a @intothewhirled Corriedale braid I picked up last weekend. I’m separating the colors and spinning them into little skeins that serve no purpose other than to give me great pleasure.
But enough about me and current events. I haven’t forgotten I’m supposed to stick to wool. So let’s talk about the Corriedale breed. It was developed in New Zealand in the late 1800s by crossing Merino and Lincoln Longwool. It’s a joy to spin and to wear.
A few other sheep breeds have Corriedale in their name even though they aren’t genetically related to the original stock. The Askanian Corriedale, for example, is the product of a cross between British longwool rams and Askanian ewes.
The Askanian finewool sheep, I may have mentioned already, has quite the compelling story. It was developed in Ukraine at the Askania-Nova research institute by crossing Merino with American Rambouillet. As recently as 1980, there were more than 1.6 million of them. For reference, Askania-Nova is about 8,269 kilometers east of the Howard County Fairgrounds, from whence this beautiful fiber cometh. See? It’s all connected.
Scenes from a sheep and wool festival, part two: the rituals.
Scenes from a sheep and wool festival, part one: So many sheep. So much wool. How could you not want to wear this?
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