Bond Sheep - Spinning and Fibre Study

Bond Sheep - Spinning and Fibre Study

Introduction

I am still moving through the fine wools and this week I am spinning Bond both from a combed top and from scoured fleece.

Breed History

The breeding of Bond sheep is accredited to Thomas Bond, a breeder and farmer, from Lockhart, NSW, in the early 1900's. This breed is a cross of Lincoln Rams on Saxon Merino Ewes. Thomas Bond wanted to create a sheep that was well-suited to the local climate and conditions and the resulting Bond sheep breed was known for its hardiness, adaptability, and excellent meat quality. They quickly became popular with local farmers, who appreciated their ability to thrive in tough conditions and also produce high-quality meat.

One of the things that sets the Bond sheep breed apart from other breeds is their distinctive appearance. They are medium-sized sheep, with a white or cream-colored fleece and a broad, deep body. Their face and legs are also white, and they have a distinctive Roman nose.

Bond Sheep fleece held between finger and thumb showing the crimp.

Fibre Details

Bond wool - I spun from the combed top preparation first of 22-28 micron and with a staple length of approximately 8 cm. It is a very white fibre and has beautiful fine crimp presumably from the Merino in the breed. It is considered a fine wool in the fibre source guides and the feel and look definitely reinforces that description.
Lock characteristics are square, flat tipped, dense staples, beautifully soft feel, similar to Merino and a similar length being about 8cm.
Bond samples. Combed top, spun sample and fleece plus spun sample.

Study Notes

While this fibre is deliciously soft like a fluffy cloud, I was quite disappointed in the spin of the fibre and fleece that I had to work with.
I have been told by others that Bond Fibre is just amazing but I found the fibre had been poorly prepared and there were small neps or little knots of fibre all throughout both the scoured fleece and the combed top I received. I found ths made it difficult to spin consistently and it was annoying to have to continually stop to remove them as there were so many.
The prepped fibre is quite fuzzy and once spun it was very crimpy and elastic. I would definitely spin this again from a different source that was better prepped as I think it would be a beautiful yarn.
The finished yarn bloomed in the final soak and was quite 'woolly' to look at but very soft.
I only spun the two samples in the photo above this week due to the fibre prep being quite inferior resulting in a poor spinning experience and final yarn.

 

Conclusion

A disappointing spin but I would definitely not rule out trying Bond again as my initial reaction to the fibre was one of delight at how soft and cloud like it felt.

 

If you are interested in lessons on spinning different breeds, spinning in general or any other fibre crafts for that matter,  I have found the School of Sweet Georgia to be a wonderful resource and use them regularly myself. Please note for full disclosure this is an affiliate link but I only recommend what I would use myself and this one is very helpful and there is so much there to learn.

Cheryl

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.