I just absolutely love this yarn. Leicester (pronounced “less-ter”) Longwool is one of my favorite breeds of sheep for yarn—neck and neck with the Bluefaced Leicester breed. The Leicester Longwool is the breed with the long, tight spiral curls that hang down between his cute sheepy ears, parting around his darling sheepy eyes, with “bangs” than hang a bit down down his long sheepy nose. Just an absolutely beautiful breed whose fleece makes a unique and definitely “non-commercialized” rustic yarn. This particular yarn from Ross Farm found its way into my stash during the first Master’s Day at DFWFF back in 2018 when prowling the show floor. The problem was what to do with it…

First, I worked an open lace shawl and, 500 yards in, I frogged it—too fussy for the yarn and both suffered. Then I worked a cardigan and, again, roughly 500 yards in, I frogged it. I couldn’t see the cables. I tried a simple stockinette populated with staggered purls, but the purl stitches blended in. Nothing was doing the yarn justice.

Ultimately, I realized that not only simple would be best but that the construction could be used to showcase and create a simple but visible pattern. Construction could create a textured design that simply could not be duplicated by any other means.

This may have been one of the first times I was actually sad when the project ended. It was just such a treat to use an unblended, single-breed yarn from such a magnificent sheep. (I may have just talked myself into another Leicester Longwool online shopping trip.)