A new yarn
Sheepspot has a new yarn in the works: CVM! CVM sheep are a colored strain of a rare American fine-wool breed, the Romeldale, which was developed early in the 20th century from Romney rams and Rambouillet ewes. Romeldales are white. CVMs came along in the 1960s, when shepherd Glen Eidman was surprised to find that one of his Romeldales had given birth to a multicolored ewe lamb. Two years later, a ram lamb with the same coloring was born. Eidman bred the two colored sheep and discovered that their offspring were also colored. He continued to select for fleece quality and color, calling the results by the romantic name "California Variegated Mutant."
There are so few CVMs that the Livestock Conservancy considers them "critically" endangered, meaning that there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and that their estimated global population is fewer than two thousand animals. As a handspinner, I've long loved CVM wool, so imagine my delight when I was contacted by a CVM shepherd in (where else?) California who was willing to sell me her entire clip! And what was more, she was willing to sort said clip by color!
The wool went from California to Wisconsin, where it was spun into a gorgeous, bouncy two-ply woolen yarn at Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill in the three natural colors above. The whole process, from buying the wool to receiving the yarn, took over a year. And, I'm happy to say this yarn was worth the wait.
As soon as the yarn arrived I sent samples to some of my absolutely favorite knitwear designers in hopes that they might be inspired to design sweater patterns just for this beautiful yarn. They were, and they are. But I couldn't wait. I cast on Carrie Bostick Hoge's Lila sweater (the top-down version) right away. Lila is simple and elegant and suits the yarn perfectly. But I know Lila won't be the only sweater I knit in this yarn.
Look for Sheepspot's CVM DK in the fall, as patterns designed just for it become available.
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