Post #3835705

2026-07-12 15:25 UTC

#TourDeFleece Stage #8 Making up for no photos yesterday, I guess! This is a 2:1 Tibetan Mastiff/merino blend, but with a lighter, richer brown: "Dark Chocolate" instead of "Espresso". (I may have mixed up the names in previous posts/replies.) I'd weighed it out, but didn't get around to blending it back when I did the Espresso samples. I'd chosen the Espresso for the primary blending work because it matched the dark browns best in the TM fur, but the Dk Chocolate is nice at matching the redder tones that can be found in it too. It's difficult to see a difference on the singles, so I'm really curious how it'll turn out plied and worked into a swatch! Mostly spent my time blending on the drum carder, but I did sneak in time to spin about 1/3 of the batch before calling it a night. [Edit to note that these browns are natural colors from different sheep at Fleecewood Farms where I got the wool.] [Edit #2 to correct the year in the TDF hashtag. Sorry for extra alerts!] #TourDeFleece2026 #HandSpinning

Replies (1)

@Paws2Spindle@sunny.garden 2026-07-13 13:09

#TourDeFleece Stage #9 I finished the 2:1 Tibetan Mastiff / Dk Chocolate merino blend. When I went to photograph the bobbin next to the one with the 2:1 Espresso merino, it was just way too similar under indoor lights, so I brought them, and the source wool, outdoors to see if natural light would help. The results are different, but I'm not sure if it helps! My usual photo spot on the patio table was in shade, so I started there, and that was worse than indoors! So I dragged a chair into direct morning sun. That's better. You don't have to pretend that you see a difference between the two balls' tints. But, ultimately, at 1/3 wool, the singles are effectively identical. I think I can end this experiment concluding that I don't need to worry about which wool I use to pair with the TM, and in fact I might combine them both just to get a little more visual texture in the yarn. Now for a rest day. I'll probably spend some of it prepping more fiber to spin, not that it's restful, but because I'm anxious to move on to the next project! #TourDeFleece2026

Open ##3835704