A Fiber Review: Louet Gotland Top

Sometime last fall, I received a very generous package of spinning fiber from Louet North America thanks to the lovely folks at Stitchcraft Marketing. One of the fiber samples in that package was a squishy bag of gorgeous steely gray Gotland top. About two weeks ago, I finally pulled it out to spin. I finished the singles on Friday, and yesterday I started plying. Considering that it was a total of 8 oz. and I'd spun the singles fairly fine, this plying is going to take a while, but I've made a decent start.

Gotland sheep are a very old breed established by the Vikings in what is now Sweden. Their fleeces are fairly uniformly gray, and the fiber is typically fine, long, and lustrous and curly rather than crimpy. Spun worsted, this fiber has a lovely sheen to it.

The fiber from Louet was a delight to spin. I decided to spin a two-ply fingering-ish weight yarn, so I split the length of top in half and spun up two bobbins on my miniSpinner. It was a very easy spin. The fiber was beautifully prepped -- and clearly not over-prepped, because it still had a lovely sheepy smell to it. It drafted effortlessly and contained very little in the way of VM; this is the grand total of what I pulled out of all 8 ounces:

That little pile there is probably the size of a quarter, for reference. While spinning this fiber, I really felt like I was spinning something closer to the sheep that it came from, and it was really a delightful experience. I'm really excited to finish plying and see the finished product, because I have a feeling this yarn is going to be really gorgeous.

Thanks so much, Louet and Stitchcraft Marketing, for giving me the opportunity to spin this beautiful fiber!