YST Episode 168 Bleu du Maine and Charollais sheep breed

One of my year long projects is being a part of the FaceBook group called 52 Weeks of Sheep.  Each week we study a different breed of fiber producing animals, mostly sheep.  In this podcast I talk about the last month of those studies, and go into detail on two new to me breeds.  Both are French in origin, the Bleu du Maine and the Charollais.  One thing I failed to mention in the podcast was after spinning the Charollais fiber, I used for the first time a small sampler loom.  It is a fun way to sample texture or colors one would see if the yarns are to be used weaving.  It's final product size is a perfect mug rug.

My fiber that I used to spin these breeds came from Wychwood Spinner.  

Another breed was the BFL. The photo shows a Blue Faced Leicester skein I spun from top purchased from Hilltop Cloud.

The group also studied Cheviot.  I did a breed review in Episode 8, if you want to listen to it again.  Likewise Episode 45 is my previous review of the breed Coopworth.  I was not able to obtain any of this fiber yet to add to this review.

I visited the yarn store in Nashville Ind, called The Clay Purl.  There is a knit night there on Tuesday evenings, and it was lovely to meet the knitters and sit and listen and join the conversation.  The shop is full of lovely yarn and some dyed fibers for spinning.  I purchased a merino braid dyed by Bean Blossom Fibers.