Blue Faced Leicester Silk Cashmere Tops

 Blue Faced Leicester Silk Cashmere Tops

Blue Faced Leicester (or BFL for short) is a famous, lustrous sheep from the UK, blended with lustrous mulberry silk and a bit of cashmere, makes for some very nice spinning. 

The BFL fibre is around 20-25 microns, up to 12cm/6” staple length. Not quite as fine as Merino but it is super easy to spin. Longwool sheep breeds are known for having long, curly, lustrous fibre. While the Merino is fluffy, the BFL has ringlets. Kind of like the difference between a Suri alpaca and a Huacaya alpaca.

The BFL is soft enough for next-to-skin wear. Because of their curly locks BFL wool doesn’t have the same super crimp as Merino. This means yarn spun from it, is a bit less elastic, less fluffy, with less memory. But it’s got two things that Merino doesn’t – drape and shine. Drape is kind of the opposite to memory. Instead of springing back into place, it hangs where it’s put, without the heaviness of alpaca.

The shine of the Blue Faced Leicester is a bonus feature. It takes the dye a lot easier, which means you get a lot more depth of colour or brightness. On top of the lack of crimp, the scales on the fibre are shaped differently, which also means it’s a bit harder to felt.

Fibre Top Roving Details

Weight per top: 100g / 3.52oz

Contents: Blue Faced Leicester 70%, Mulberry Silk 25%, Cashmere 5%.

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