Suzy Beggin, Shepherdess

                                                                                                                                            Suzy@SuzyBeggin.com

 

 

 

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Other Fun Links:

 

1858 Historic Ball

A historic dance in celebration of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debate to take place on August 30, 2008.

 

Suzy's Doozies & Suzy's Musings

My book and weekly articles.

 

Galena Historic Dance Society

A fun group to practice and learn 19th century dance.  We meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the ARC in Galena.  All are welcome!

 

Stephenson County Fiber Art Fair

A marvelous celebration of fiber.

 

 

 

Text Box:  

Text Box: The Different Wool Yarn Lots

Text Box: Your hair color changes a bit each year.  We all know of blonde children who grew up to be brunette adults – and I won’t even mention gray hair!  Sheep are no different, and their wool changes throughout the year and with age and sun exposure (my sheep do not wear those ridiculous looking coats).   Looking for an old yarn?        All good things must come to an end.  Each lot starts out anywhere from 20 to 60 pounds of wool, but eventually each lot sells out.  The following lots are no longer available.      Current retired lots are: C2004 (dark brown)           B2007 (dark brown)           W2003 (white)           W2004 (white)           MM2002 (gray) If you have an incomplete project let me know and I can suggest the current lot that would most closely match it. Even the fleece from a single sheep won’t be exactly the same color from year to year, so when purchasing your yarn it is important to buy all the wool for an individual project from the same lot.  Keep the lot tag with your project so that if you run out of yarn you can be absolutely sure you're buying more yarn from the same lot.    My natural colors blend together well.  Try mixing lots to make stripes, or use two strands from different lots to create a bulky blend!   B2008 - Dark Brown Finished in January of 2009, this is a dark brown yarn made by blending all of my dark fleeces together.  This blend is very similar to C2004 and B2007 (both retired), and if you liked that rich dark brown you'll like this one too. The wool is approximately 35% Cheviot, 30% Merino, 25% East Friesian and 10% Cormo.   This lot is so dark that it doesn't dye well. This lot is only avilable as roving, no yarn was spun. The sheep in this lot are Harriett, a dark gray cheviot, her daughter Little Fritz, a deep brown cheviot-cross, and her niece Domino, a black and white spotted cheviot-cross.  Also Bear (a sheep named Bear, not an actual bear), a deep brown cormo-cross, and her daughter Goat (a sheep named Goat, not an actual goat), a black cormo-cross, and her grandson Skunk (a sheep named Skunk, not an actual skunk), a black merino-cormo cross with a white stripe down his nose.    O2007 - Oatmeal (A very light gray, almost white) Finished in December of 2007, this one combines all of my white fleeces with one dark sheep, Bear.  The result is a white with just a hint of color.    The wool is approximately 50% Cormo, 25% Merino, 15% Dorset, 5% Cheviot and 5% East Friesian.    It dyes well, but you loose the effect of the dark fleece.  I'd recommend you use this one for knitting as-is, and buy a white yarn if you plan to dye.   The two-ply, medium weight yarn is comparable to what a commercial yarn would call worsted or sport weight yarn.  I knit six stitches per inch with this yarn using #5 needles.    I also have a thinner two-ply fingering weight yarn.  I knit nine stitches per inch with this yarn using #1 needles.    Bear, a tri-colored dark brown, black and gray sheep who I call my "Independent Woman" (learn more about Bear on the Meet the Sheep page), is the only colored sheep in this lot.  The white sheep in this blend are dorsets Dorry, Toni Dorset and her daughter Wooly Ben.  Also white cormos Bouffant and her granddaughter Sawborne.  Other white cormos are Left Ear and her daughters Deuce, Marilyn and Spots.  Hunchie, Horney, Lambert, Fluffy, Brot Boy and Ewella make up the rest of the cormos and cormo-merino crosses.  Blossom and her daughter Little Rose are cheviot-merino crosses.       G2006 – Light Gray Finished in July 2007, this one is also an interesting heather gray wool made by combining mostly white wool with a little bit of light gray, and very dark brown/black wool.    The wool is approximately 40% Cormo, 25% Merino, 10% Dorset, 15% Cheviot and 10% East Friesian.  Looking at this wool you can see the individual white, gray and black fibers.    It dyes well, but unevenly, producing an interesting molted look.    The two-ply, medium weight yarn is comparable to what a commercial yarn would call worsted or sport weight yarn.  I knit six stitches per inch with this yarn using #5 needles.    I also have a thinner two-ply fingering weight yarn.  I knit nine stitches per inch with this yarn using #1 needles.  At this time, this is the only color I have available in the fingering weight yarn.    The colored sheep who produced this lot are Harriett, a dark gray cheviot, her daughter Little Fritz, a deep brown cheviot-cross, her grandson Fred, a gray cheviot-cross, and her niece Domino, a black and white spotted cheviot-cross.  Also Bear (a sheep named Bear, not an actual bear), a deep brown cormo-cross, and her daughter Goat (a sheep named Goat, not an actual goat), a black cormo-cross, and her grandson Skunk (a sheep named Skunk, not an actual skunk).    The white sheep in this blend are dorsets Dorry, Toni Dorset and her daughter Wooly Ben.  Also white cormos Bouffant, her daughter Bugger, and her granddaughter Sawborne.  Other whtie cormos are Left Ear and her daughters Deuce, Marilyn and Spots.  Hunchie, Horney, Lambert, Fluffy, Brot Boy and Ewella make up the rest of the cormos and cormo-merino crosses.  Blossom and her daughter Little Rose are cheviot-merino crosses.    (Note that G2005 and G2006 look the same.  If you're ordering more to finish a project, make sure you're getting the same lot you started with).        G2005 – Light Gray Finished in October 2005, this one is a fun color - an interesting heather gray wool made by combining mostly white wool with a little bit of light gray, and very dark brown/black wool.  The wool is approximately 40% Cormo, 20% Merino, 15% Dorset, 15% Cheviot and 10% East Friesian.  Looking at this wool you can see the individual white, gray and black fibers.    It dyes well, but unevenly, producing an interesting molted look.    This one is available as a two-ply fingering weight yarn.  I knit nine stitches per inch with this yarn using #1 needles.  (The two-ply medium weight and roving from this lot are sold out).   The colored sheep who produced this lot are Harriett, a dark gray cheviot, her son Harriett’s Boy, a black cheviot-cross, her daughter Little Fritz, a deep brown cheviot-cross, her grandson Fred, a gray cheviot-cross, and her niece Domino, a black and white spotted cheviot-cross.  Also Bear (a sheep named Bear, not an actual bear), a deep brown cormo-cross, and her daughter Goat (a sheep named Goat, not an actual goat), a black cormo-cross.    The white sheep in this blend are dorsets Dorry, Toni Dorset and her daughter Wooly Ben.  Also white cormos Bouffant, Deuce, Marilyn, Ewella, Left Ear, Spots, Lambert, Bugger and Mop, and my only white cheviot, Blossom.    (Note that G2005 and G2006 look the same.  If you're ordering more to finish a project, make sure you're getting the same lot you started with).