Daisy the Black (Finn) Sheep

This is Daisy, Woodspryte Daisy.  She is a Finn Sheep, momma of twins this year, isn't she a beauty!  The Finn, aka-Finish Landrace is an ancient Scandinavian breed. Known for silky & sleek fleece. This was my first full fleece.  She was my "trial by fire" so to speak.  My first and so far my toughest fleece to skirt and clean.  So full of hay and grass and what ever else, it took me a long time to get thru her beautiful fiber.  She was well worth it.  Looking at her picture she appears to be a chocolate brown, but she is gorgeous black under all that sun bleached tip.  I loved the color contrast so much that I tried to save as much of the light chocolate color as I possibly could.  The carder was the biggest challenge.  A lot of it just wouldn't make it thru that.  While cleaning, some of these tips were just too full of VM to keep also.  But fortunately enough of it made it thru and into the really nice yarn I'm spinning from her.  I'm really happy with the look.
Dark chocolate with milk chocolate sprinkles~~


As I always do.  I pick thru the raw fleece to get the best locks separated and I clean them separetly.  Those I needle felt into some type of fasion accessory piece.  Usually a boa or scarf.  Daisy's locks made a unique and beautiful long scarf.   I really liked the unique look of this girls locks needle felted into this scarf......(above right picture)

As for the actual fiber review of Daisy......The fibers were very well crimped and the locks very well defined.  It made separating the best locks pretty easy.  She washed easily also, not a lot of grease.  It washed well thru my normal 3 step washing process.  The carding was just a little tricky because of the sun bleached tips, but I was expecting that ahead of time.  I would get Daisy's fleece again.  She is a beautiful black and the tip color is what makes her unique.  She needle felted very well and is spinning just fine. Her black has a nice sheen, actually it was hard for me to photograph because of the shine.
I'll give Daisy a thumbs up, excluding the crazy amount of grass & hay that came along with her.

Join me next week as I move onto a beautiful ewe named Jody.....wow!