The Fibre Garden : Natural Roving & Top
Showing 37–54 of 66 results
Natural Roving & Top
Merino – White 19.5 mic (Top)
Classification: FINE WOOL
Creamy-white natural combed top, this is always extremely clean and free of vegetation. Very popular with our spinning and felting customers.
Merino rates high for softness, and this 19.5 micron fibre is excellent for against-the-skin wear and a multitude of other uses. Felting properties are excellent. Staple length is in the 2.5 to 4 inch range.
NEW ZEALAND WOOL, processed in CHINA
Merino – White 22 mic (Top)
Classification: FINE WOOL
Creamy-white natural combed top, this is always extremely clean and free of vegetation. Very popular with our spinning and felting customers.
Merino rates high for softness, and this 22 micron fibre is excellent for against-the-skin wear and a multitude of other uses. Felting properties are excellent. Staple length is in the 2.5 to 4 inch range.
NOTE: our labels may indicate this as UNTREATED, which simply means it is not Superwash Merino.
NEW ZEALAND WOOL, processed in CHINA
Milk Protein (Top)
100% Milk Protein Fibre. Also known as Latte.
Extremely clean combed top in natural ivory-cream. Staple length is about 4 inches.
One of the "new" man-made fibres, with a manufacturing process very similar to soy fibre. Said to be even softer than soy, and with good lustre. We can't find much for references to describe the drape in finished garments but we are guessing it's probably excellent.
Considered a protein fibre, so acid dyes will work very nicely. Probably so will natural dyes with the usual protein-fibre premordanting methods. Somebody told us that if you take the dyebath temperatures too close to boiling, this fibre will dissolve. Urban myth? You tell us!
Norwegian – Black (Top)
Classification: DUAL-COATED
Nice and clean combed top. Norwegian sheep come in a range of tones, this top being a very dark brown with traces of grey hairs combed through. Like Icelandic, this is best used for rugged outerwear.
Micron count is hard to determine on double-coated blends. The staple length for this top is 4 to 6 inches. We can't find information on the felting properties, but since Icelandic felts so well there may be possibilities with Norwegian.
Norwegian – White (Top)
Classification: DUAL-COATED
Nice and clean combed top. Norwegian sheep come in a range of tones, this top being a natural off-white. Like Icelandic, this is best used for rugged outerwear.
Micron count is hard to determine on double-coated blends. The staple length for this top is 4 to 5 inches. Wet felting qualities are excellent, and also good for needle felting.
PRODUCT of GREAT BRITAIN
Nylon – Fake Cashmere (Top)
100% Nylon.
Extremely clean combed top, possibly the whitest fibre we carry. Staple length is about 3 to 4 inches which makes this top-notch for blending with almost anything. Few would spin Nylon all by itself, but it has a great reputation for adding strength and durability to other fibres, especially when spinning yarns for socks. This is a fine grade that you won't even notice when blended in at a rate of 20 to 25% or so, by weight.
Surprisingly, Nylon dyes beautifully with acid dyes. It also takes natural dyes well using the usual premordant methods for protein fibres. We love the moniker of "Fake Cashmere", but your fingers will never confuse it from the real thing. It feels more like those puffs they stick inside pill bottles. Maybe it is.
Polwarth – White (Top)
Classification: FINEWOOL
Nice and clean combed top in bright close-to-white. It almost seems like Polwarth is the not-so-well-known alternative to Merino. It features so many of the same qualities, and is splendid for everything from next-to-skin clothing and beyond. The crimp is excellent, elasticity good and staple surprisingly long.
Micron count of our top is 21 to 24, with a staple length of 4 to 5 inches. Felting properties are high.
PRODUCT of NEW ZEALAND
Rambouillet (Rustic Roving)
Classification: FINEWOOL
Thick and chunky rustic roving with a moderate amount of vegetation in our current supply.
Lovely off-white in colour. In the Merino family, Rambouillet developed as an offshoot in Northern France in the late 1700s and was soon brought to North America where more changes made this a distinctive breed.
The fibre is similar to Merino but with less lustre and more loft. Staple is in the 2 to 4 inch range and especially well-suited to woolen-style spinning. Plenty soft for outer, midrange and against-the-skin wear, with a micron count in the 18 to 24 range. Wet felting properties are excellent. A good core wool for needle-felting.
PRODUCT of CANADA
Ramie (Top)
100% Ramie.
Very clean combed top, in pencil-roving width. Staple length is 7 to 8 inches. Ramie comes from the stem (bast) fibre of a tropical plant. Typically it is bleached to an almost pure white. Our supply is very fine and soft. Ramie can be spun by itself or used in blends. It's well-suited for lighter summer wear, from against-the-skin to outerwear. An intriguing fibre for those that can't wear wool. <
Since this is a plant or cellulose fibre dyers must use fibre reactive dyes. Natural dyers can resort to techniques used on cotton, such as alum-tannin premordanting, or Aluminum acetate. We don't know how Ramie responds in an indigo vat.
That being said, when blended with protein fibres, acid dyes will leave the ramie alone during dyeing, which makes for some wonderful streaky or heathered effects, depending on how well the fibres are blended.
Romney – Light Grey (Roving)
Classification: LONGWOOL
Clean, carded and somewhat chunky roving with very little vegetation. Light grey in colour, marled with softer ash-grey and dark-grey throughout, and just a hint of brown. Romney is a longwool with a good crimp and relatively short staple and slight sheen. It spins well either woolen or semi-worsted styles. Suitable for midrange to outerwear. Being roving this has excellent loft which many needle felters love.
Micron count on this fibre is around 36 (but it feels softer) with a staple length of 4 to 5 inches. Felting properties are very good.
PRODUCT of NEW ZEALAND
Romney – Medium Grey (Roving)
Classification: LONGWOOL
Clean, carded and somewhat chunky roving with very little vegetation. Medium grey-brown in tone, liberally sprinkled throughout with ash grey. Romney is a longwool with a good crimp and relatively short staple and slight sheen. It spins well either woolen or semi-worsted styles. Suitable for midrange to outerwear. Being roving this has excellent loft which many needle felters love.
Micron count on this fibre is around 36 (but it feels softer) with a staple length of 4 to 5 inches. Felting properties are very good.
PRODUCT of NEW ZEALAND
Romney – White (Roving)
Classification: LONGWOOL
Thick and chunky carded roving, with very little vegetation. Creamy-white in colour. Romney is a longwool with a good crimp and relatively short staple and slight sheen. It spins well either woolen or worsted style. Suitable for midrange to outerwear, this particular roving being softer than average.
Micron count on Romney ranges from 32 to 39 with a staple length in the 5 to 8 inch range. Felting properties are very good.
PRODUCT of NEW ZEAlAND
Scottish Blackface (Rustic Roving)
Classification: DUAL-COATED
Thick and chunky Rustic Roving, usually with moderate vegetation.
The colour is creamy-white with a light sprinkling of dark hairs. This is an ancient breed, and a main player in the development of the wool industry in Scotland. The fleece is a combination of long, course outercoat hairs, with a much finer undercoat. This roving has the two carded together and would be best suited for rugged outerwear or non-garment uses.
Micron count on the fine hairs varies from 28 to 38 microns but is difficult to assign in a blend. Wet felting properties are good but the resulting felt will be textured and hairy and certainly best suited for sturdier creations. A good core wool for needle-felting.
PRODUCT of CANADA
Shetland – Black, Fine (Top)
Classification: DOWN-TYPE WOOL
Very clean combed top with next to no veg. The colour is a gorgeous and very dark brown-black with the odd grey hair sprinkled in, and it has a lovely and soft handle. This is a very old breed used in everything from traditional Shetland lace to rugged tweed fabrics and midrange to rugged outerwear knitted garments. It technically has a double coat but they are nearly always carded together.
Micron count on the fine hairs varies from 12 to 20 microns but is difficult to assign in a blend. Staple length is in the 2 to 4.5 inch range. Felting properties are moderate.
PRODUCT of GREAT BRITAIN
Shetland – Grey, Fine (Top)
Classification: DOWN-TYPE WOOL
Very clean combed top with next to no veg. The colour is a blend of soft ash-grey and deeper charcoal, likely to make a beautiful heathered yarn. It has a lovely soft handle. This is a very old breed used in everything from traditional Shetland lace to rugged tweed fabrics and midrange to rugged outerwear knitted garments. It technically has a double coat but they are nearly always carded together.
Micron count on the fine hairs varies from 12 to 20 microns but is difficult to assign in a blend. Staple length is in the 2 to 4.5 inch range. Felting properties are moderate.
PRODUCT of GREAT BRITAIN
Shetland – Moorit Brown (Top)
Classification: DOWN-TYPE WOOL
Very clean combed top with next to no veg. Moorit is one of the official colour classes for Shetland sheep. The colour is a blend of medium-brown sprinkled with soft grey which sort of softens the overall effect. Micron count is 24 to 29 microns with a staple of around 3 inches and a medium-soft feel. This is a very old breed used in everything from traditional Shetland lace to rugged tweed fabrics and midrange to rugged outerwear knitted garments. Felting properties are moderate. From Ashland Bay.
PRODUCT of GREAT BRITAIN
Shetland – White (Top)
Classification: DOWN-TYPE WOOL
Very clean combed top with next to no veg. The colour is creamy white. This is a very old breed used in everything from traditional Shetland lace to rugged tweed fabrics and midrange to rugged outerwear knitted garments. It technically has a double coat but they are nearly always carded together.
Micron count is in the range of 25 to 26, with a staple length in the 3 to 4 inch range. Felting properties are moderate. From the Shetland Islands.
PRODUCT of GREAT BRITAIN
Sock Blend – Superwash BFL/Nylon Top
80% Superwash Blue-faced Leicester wool / 20% Nylon
Not suitable for wet felting!!
Very clean combed top. Staple length around 5 to 6 inches. BFL is not as soft as Merino, but has excellent durability in a sock yarn. Spin Off Magazine did a whole sock issue a couple of years ago and BFL was the winner so far as the best choice for spinning your own sock yarn. We have the mill custom-blend this for us, to save you from having to do the tedious job of combining wool and nylon together in a thorough way. This dyes up beautifully, either before or after spinning. The ovory-white colour is also real nice just as it comes. Would also be a good choice for kid's clothing.
PRODUCT of CANADA, made from imported fibre.