Why I love BFL (wool) // Episode 161 // Taking Back Friday // a fibre arts vlog
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- SHOW NOTES: sweetgeorgiayarns.com/2021/09...
Today, I'm going to explain why I’ve been obsessed with toothy, woolly wools and, specifically, why I love BFL wool. What is BFL? BFL is short for Bluefaced Leicester wool, which is a specific sheep breed. Let's talk about BFL for spinning and knitting.
#spinningwool
00:00 introduction
02:40 learning to spin, which wool is best
03:47 learning to spin with BFL wool
04:25 staple length
05:00 crimp
07:08 micron count
07:27 glossy vs matte appearance
08:25 how BFL takes up dye
09:50 finished "Tremblant Toque" hat designed by Dianna Walla, knit in SweetGeorgia BFL+Silk Fine
14:15 weaving ideas for BFL+Silk DK
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I LOVE toothy yarn and non-superwash wools. They are actually warmer and so much easier and fullfing to knit.
BFL is my favorite, too! I am not a spinner, just a knitter, but absolutely love the combination of durability and texture of BFL.
Thank you for your post, is so interesting!
Clicked on this because I've been looking into using BFL for a few things, including socks. Was amused when you were recommending trying out more rustic, non-superwash wools while I was swatching with Plotulopi.
I love BFL wool.. Made mittens and they are soooo warm
I am spinning BFL Silk blend for socks now!
Love, love, love toothy wools! The BFL sounds excellent for colorwork. Can’t wait to try it out!
Side note on the blue of BFL- I don’t work with sheep, but I work with animals, and they grey color is considered “blue” in a lot of animals. Russian blue cats, for example. Boston terriers (my fave) also come in a blue color.
Love Espace tricot's pattern! your hat is wonderful!!
Thanks so much for sharing 💗 love to learn🐑🐐🐏
Thank you. I enjoyed this primer on BFL.
Thank you for featuring BFL today - the one garment that I've knit with it is my favorite, so your feature got me to click through from the email and subscribe here. I learned more about it today with you!
Aww yay, thanks for subscribing Vivian!
Those test colors are gorgeous! 😍😍😍
First of all thank you. I love your enthusiasm and the manner in which you explain the different qualities of the walls. I’m not confident enough yet with knitting to invest the time and expense of learning to spin; even so, I just love hearing about it and I can hardly wait until I can join your joyful community!
I've been spinning a lot of BFL fiber this year. Such a delight to spin and from indie dyers I've gotten some gorgeous handpainted fibers. Always exciting to see how the singles and then the plied yarn looks!
I love your love song to BFL, and the BFL silk top from SweetGeorgia is stunning to spin!
i've been waiting all week for this~ thanks for another video! (:
I’m absolutely nuts from breed specific rustic yarns! BFL is amazing to work with!
This is so interesting. It seems that BFL gives us the neutral for vivids. I have worked with it BFL and really enjoyed it. I instantly think of calming pastels when i hear BFL. I really like it for summer tanks. It's so light. I love it
Have you tried dying over with the greys and browns of bfl blended in? It REALLY gives it a depth and tone of color feel very drastic than just the white alone.
@@CriaAndKiddFW I haven't tried dyeing yet but they sounds so pretty
I am alternating between BFL and coriedale as a beginner.
When I saw the merino and the BFL/tussar silk skeins together my thoughts immediately ran to something like knitting a shawl with low-contrast sections.
We don't have a lot of access to blue-faced Leister wool in Australia, you're more likely to find Border Leister or Border Leister x merino here. I think my earliest attempts at spinning were with Border Leister, an embarrassingly long time ago.
Oh yes! Border Leicester was one of the first fibres I dyed and spun too. My batch was more coarse, but it was fantastic to learn to spin on!
I’m super wash merino girl but after this video I think I might have to give the BFL a try !
Loved this - I love spinning with BFL, and like others who have commented, find alpaca on its own more difficult to spin, but is ok if it is blended with other fibres. I find it better to spin alpaca with a spindle, rather than a wheel. Here in the UK a popular breed to spin with is Jacob, which is another of my favourites.
I'm a newer spinner and I've only had alpaca raglans and merino top roving to spin with so far, and this is very comforting to me. I thought I was just having wheel struggles that I wasn't liking my wheel alpaca spun as much as on a spindle.
I've just been spinning only over a year, and I have found that merino is much too short and slippery for me to enjoy. BFL is great to spin, and I enjoy the process of using it, along with several other varieties of fiber! I have also found that as nice and well loved as alpaca is the fiber is one that I'm not that fond of spinning either! Lol I love yarn that is alpaca, it's soft and cozy to knit/crochet, but can be tricky to spin, it's better to buy a braid/batt/roving that has already been blended than trying to spin just alpaca.
Thanks for the time you take to talk to us each week! Take care and stay healthy!
Oh yessssss blending alpaca with something else like wool or silk makes it much easier and more enjoyable to spin. I do remember spinning a sample of pure alpaca too and it was not easy!
Thankyou so much Felicia for a wonderful time, have spun Corriedale for over 40 years as I bred them,but got into merino in the last 12 months. Love both and have tried blf with silk, gorgeous to spin. You are Absoutely gorgeous and love your video every week, am listening from Australia.
Thank you so much Celine! I so appreciate you watching! And yes Corriedale is a beautiful wool to spin too! Love that you have raised your own sheep. I would love to learn about that too!
Thanks, really interesting!
I love to spin BFL and I think that it is plenty soft enough!
I work with a lot of alpaca so the when I feel more "rustic" wool they feel a bit prickly to me but also very warm :) I love pretty much all animal fiber :) I think the only one I'm not too keen on for spinning is mohair. To me it feels too much like human hair when I tried to spin some and is nothing like the commercially spun mohair that is soft and fluffy. Now I'm rambling. Anyway, loved the episode and is kind of the highlight of my day every friday :D
Hahha yay! In an upcoming video I’m totally going to talk about why I love mohair too 🤣🤣🤣 thanks for watching!!
@@sweetgeorgia Of course!!! :)
I understand why fans of more traditional wools would like Bfl. Unfortunately I cannot wear it with my sensitive skin but would consider it for items such as cushions or an afghan. Until I discovered fine merino, I believed I was allergic to wool and knit my sweaters with cotton. I have since discovered that I am not allergic, just very sensitive to anything remotely scratchy. I have no problem with Sweet Georgia merino but find cheaper merino yarns like Knitpicks irritate my skin. I also do better with merino/silk or merino/cashmere blends.
Oh absolutely, wearing merino (or even softer fibres) next to skin for shawls and scarves makes a lot of sense for sensitive skin. I think it just makes sense that different wools serve different purposes. Like you wouldn’t make a wool rug out of merino (because it would likely pill and wear out quickly) but you wouldn’t make a scarf out of rug wool either. I’m so glad you found a merino wool you can wear! Merino and wool in general have such amazing qualities as natural fibres. 💗☺️
I‘m like that too! Currently I am working with a merino-silk blend, and it is sooo soft to the touch. It is objectively soft. But when I hold or rub it against my neck it itches. =(
I only weave with non superwash yarns so I am pleased you have this lovely BFL. I will be ordering some soon! Please show your weaving project when you sew it together. Would love to see what you create. Thanks!
Thanks so much!! Weaving is definitely my big motivator for bringing on these non-superwash wools. I love weaving with natural wools and seeing the cloth they make. I’ll be sure to post about the weaving project!
I might be the weird one out here, but I'm a huge fan of the slightly toothier wools and relatively insensitive to the "itchier" wools. Like, I'm not going to put coopworth on my neck, but I'm totally fine with BFL or corriedale as long as they aren't overspun. And at least for me, they're just so much more fun to spin. I find so much merino is processed so much that it ends up difficult in a way that's not interesting but tedious. I also appreciate the added durability, since I'm not generally the type to be particularly precious with my knits. I'm not going to throw them in the washing machine but they might get worn out on a long hike or tossed in the backseat of the car.
Yes! Exactly!
Thanks for this episode. I dont like the process of super wash wool or the texture. I prefer rustic 100% wool especially BFL. And the smell is heaven🥰,Sharon.
It’s a blue toned grey. Similar to a Russian blue cat or a blue healer dog.
I've been spinning for almost 4 years now and I keep going back to Corriedale, BFL, Finn, and Shetland. Either just as they are or blended with alpaca or mohair. I'm STILL trying to get over my "perfect yarn" need/control/OCD and just let woolen spinning be good enough!
Lovely!! Yesss blending those wools with mohair or alpaca would be so nice to spin! I love mohair!
I am very intrigued by the weaving experiment. Do you think the BFL silk fine would be strong enough to warp with?
Absolutely! It would work great as warp or weft yarn!
Love this episode! But make tuque with 2 or 3 Colors that is pale and dark….always afraid that Colors go in the other…😱
I love BFL, but sadly long wools don’t love me. If I’m looking for woolly wools I turn towards down breeds instead. Everything has a place, right? I love that you’re promoting other sheep breeds.
Love using BFL but have spun lots of different fibres and blends. Today's programme was really interesting thank you!
I also love your wrap/cardi - do you have a pattern for it?
Thanks so much Sue! The wrap/cardi is actually from Lululemon, but I have plans to recreate it using handwoven cloth or maybe knitting it.
@@sweetgeorgia Thank you!
@@sweetgeorgia knitting would be great, I don't as yet have a loom!
But what is that origami thing that you're so attached to?
Oh it's a sweater/wrap from Lululemon... basically like a cocoon sweater :)
@@sweetgeorgia I thought it was your own! I love cocoon sweaters.
I am curious what sweater you are wearing in this video? Pattern?