Raw Gray Southdown Wool from Betty ~ Sold by the Ounce

Fiber Content: Southdown

Featured Animal(s): Betty

Fiber Diameter: Very Fine

Fiber Length: 3-5"

Colors: Warm Gray

Raw Wool from Betty sold by the 1/2 fleece. I split the fleeces down the back, so each half includes neck, back, and britch. 

Ok, so here is the deal. Southdown wool is weird but REALLY wonderful. Unlike most fleeces, Southdown fiber has a helical crimp. So a spiral instead of a zig-zag. And, unlike babydoll southdowns, true southdowns have very very fine fiber.

Combine the helical crimp with the very fine micron and you get nature's elastic! I love to blend Betty's fiber in at 5-20% anytime I want yarn with a lot of spring and bounce and smoosh and memory. Sock yarn specifically. A little bit goes a long way! So I let folks buy it by the ounce. 

*I don't think Betty's fiber spins well on its own. It feels funny and most folks over spin it because of the way it has so much volume. You're welcome to try it solo, but I think using it as the perfect blender for socktober batts is the way to go. 

We do not coat our sheep. Since we take in a lot of scratch and dent and down on their luck animals, we offer hay year-round. The goal is chubby, healthy, happy animals, and it it is hard for them to be happy in a coat in our 100 degree August afternoons. 

The Little Farm: Our farm is the happy home of a small flock of scratch and dent, down on their luck, and ready for retirement angora, cashgora, and pygmy angora cross goats and Shetland sheep. They are adorable and silly and sweet. They serve the dual purpose of keeping our non arable land mowed and producing high quality, super fine, luxury mohair and wool for spinners, dyers, weaver, and other fiber artists.

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