There is a discussion ongoing on one of the spinlists about darker fleeces being coarser than white ones and I cannot disagree more with this notion, because there are just too many variables involved in determining the hand and beauty of a fiber. I have felt horribly coarse white fleeces and horribly coarse dark fleeces throughout the years and I would hate to have people think that this is a rule to go by.
And so without further adieu I introduce Apulia, who is a two year old ewe. I swapped one of my Clun Forest ewe lambs for her. I had been specifically looking for a moorit which is a naturally brown sheep with a color I absolutely love. Her fleece is quite fine and soft as can be. It's really quite luscious. And it comes as no surprise because her sire, Champ, was fairly fine and his fleece was best in show at the BigE several years ago. As far as I can figure out from the info I have, Apulia is part Romney, Rambouillet, Corriedale, Romney and Tunis! That's quite a mix. I have combed her fiber here and blended it with orange dyed mohair from my goats. I have also carded it and spun up samples of both. It makes a lovely yarn and is easy to work with.
Apulia was not a great mother her first year. She rejected her lamb and I had to bottle feed her. Her daughter has the nicest black fleece I've ever seen and is still here on the farm. The second year she lambed the same thing happened but this time I was determined not to let her reject her lamb so I held her every several times a day and basically made her stand for the lamb. After a day of this, the light bulb went off and there was no looking back. I am hoping that lesson took and this won't happen again this spring!
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