Fiber Study - Brown Manx Loaghtan and Cheviot

The spinning group of the Foothills Spinners and Weaver's Guild started a fiber study.  Each month, we'll spin one ounce of the selected wool and provide feedback and analysis on the breed under study.    We had ordered 24 one ounce samples of various breeds, so we've got a couple of years of analysis planned.  All of the fibers were washed and combed for us.  

The first fiber was Brown Manx Loaghtan.   I'd never heard of this wool before...let alone spun it.   I had a hard time spinning this wool...and keeping it spun.   I haven't used my Kromski Mazurka for a while, so it could be that I don't have the tension set properly.  I fiddled with it quite a bit...but I never really succeeded in getting the proper amount of twist.  Each ply seemed a bit week, but I was able to spin it together easily.   It resulted in a very lofty yarn that bloomed well.   It produced 76 yds. of two ply yarn.

The second fiber, the Cheviot was MUCH easier to spin.   My main challenge with this wool was that I couldn't spin it thin - it "insisted" on being spun a bit thicker than my usual.   I did really like the two-ply yarn it produced.  I have spun Cheviot before.  This was much better prepared and a much more pleasant experience my previous one with this breed.   Since I was spinning so much thicker, I only managed to get 58 yds. of finished yarn from this breed.

Here they are side-by-side for comparison: