Guest Author - Pegg Thomas

I owe my love for Border Leicester sheep to a lady from the thumb area of Michigan. Janet McPeck sold me my first Border Leicester fleece. It was a black lamb fleece that was so dark and so clean, I actually asked her if it had already been washed! I had been spinning for about eleven years by that time and had never held anything so wonderful in my hands. I was captivated.

Like many people, I’d heard about Border Leicester wool but it was not a common breed back in the late 1980s, at least not in Michigan. What I’d heard was that it was a long wool and a coarse wool. What I had never heard but have learned along the way is that it has an incredible hand, a luster that takes dye gorgeously and it will wear beautifully without pilling. It is very versatile wool, making wonderful yarn both spun pure and blended with other fibers.

Border Leicester fleece comes in natural white and natural colored. Most of the natural white fleeces I’ve handled, both from my sheep and other flocks, are very white-white. Occasionally we get a white animal whose wool is a more cream color. The white-white fleeces take dye well without changing the color. The cream fleeces also dye well, but make the colors a bit warmer.

Natural black Border Leicester fleeces are common. There are different genes that lead to an animal having black fleece, one is dominant and one is recessive. It is believed that the dominant black sheep has a fleece that will stay quite black for several years before starting to silver. The recessive black sheep will begin to silver as young as a yearling. I have seen this happen within my flock. Both types of black sheep will have black faces and legs throughout their lives, it is only the wool that changes color. Some silver down to a very light color, which makes for interesting and beautiful yarns when dyed.

Natural silver Border Leicester sheep do crop up from time to time but are not common. These sheep will have a silver color to their faces and legs as well as their wool. Moorit and other brown colors have not appeared in the Border Leicester breed in any significant number, and perhaps those available are the result of out crossing.

All natural colored sheep are prone to sun bleaching. This creates the illusion of a brown sheep when viewed out on pasture. But the face and legs, which have normal hair and not wool, will remain the sheep’s true color. The sun bleached area of the fleece is a very small portion of the fiber length. It will not normally affect the overall color of the wool when carded together. However, some people prefer to cut off the sun bleached ends before washing the fleece.

No matter the color, Border Leicester wool should be full of luster. The natural shine of this fleece helps to enhance the dyed colors but also enhances the natural colors by the way light plays off the fibers. It resembles mohair in this property, but with all the elasticity of wool.

And the curls! The best Border Leicester fleeces should be loaded with curls the diameter of a pencil or even thinner. Many doll makers purchase the locks for making doll hair and Santa beards. It’s perfect! But the curls can also be used, simply teased and not carded, to create some wonderful and interesting novelty yarns.

Border Leicester wool is a long wool, growing up to 12” per year, so the sheep are shorn twice a year. It is also classified as coarse wool based on the diameter of the fibers. However, the luster and curls combine to give it a very nice hand, a silky feeling that just slides through your fingers. The finest fleeces are the lamb fleeces, which I find no problem to wear right next to my skin. The silky texture is not lost with the age of the sheep either. I find my oldest ram fleeces still have it and while they may be too coarse for a next-to-the-skin sweater, they make fantastic socks and outer wear that can take hard wear and tear.

If you haven’t tried any Border Leicester wool, treat yourself to some! It is an easy to spin wool even for the newest beginning spinner. If you haven’t seen a Border Leicester and wonder what they look like, you can see photos of them here at Twin Willows Farm.