Charollais - France

Charollais sheep were developed in the Burgundy region of east-central France in the 19th century (1800's) when shepherds crossed imported British Leicester Longwools with their native landrace sheep.  The breed was not officially recognized by the French government until 1974 and then began promoting the fast-growing, muscular breed.  The first export of this breed from France to Britain took place in 1976 and then it was exported to Ireland in 1990, exported to Canada from Britain in 1994 and from there into the USA.   

This is primarily a meat sheep and little care or thought is given to the fleece, which is a shame because they grow fine to medium fleece that are dense but quite short.  They are a medium-large sheep with a pinkish-brown wool free head usually covered in pale coloured hair and both sexes are polled.  The rams weigh about 135kg and ewes about 90kg. Ewes are docile and good tempered.

Average fleece weights are 2-2.5kg and the staple length is usually 1.5-2.5 inches (3.8-6.5cm) with micron counts of 23-30.5 microns.  The locks are rectangular, almost square, due to the shortness.

 

I bought this breed in as 100g of commercially produced top way back in December 2020, when I first started shopping for fibres and fleece for my British Breeds Project and knowing that I would probably do one for Non-British Breeds afterwards.  Also I have not seen any pure breed Charollais fleece for sale at any time since, although I've not been looking specifically for that having purchased this top and I certainly don't want to buy a whole fleece due to the financial cost, storage space issues and the amount of work it takes to prepare and spin a whole fleece by hand especially when the breed has a noted shortness of the staple that I would find difficult to prepare using my wool combs.

The information from the retailer of this is top states that fibre from this breed is dense and springy, its natural brightness makes it a fantastic dye base.  Micron count is 30-33 and the staple length is 80mm (3 inch).  So, the micron count of this seems to be a bit higher than information I can find on this breed elsewhere, so this particular one is not quite as soft as it could potentially otherwise be and the staple length is a little longer than the stated normal range, but that's not unheard off.  Whilst there is information online about this sheep breed most of it is the same repeated information (and I've also just repeated much of it too) and its all about how good it is for meat production, its usefulness as a terminal sire to increase lamb size and profitability and there doesn't seem to be anyone blogging about or promoting the wool of this breed, no one singing its praises or showing off how they prepared the fleece or how they dyed it or anything.  Is no one really enthusiastic about the Charollais in terms of its wool?

I split the commercial top into two lengths and pre-drafted it before spinning a two ply yarn, beginning on 23rd December and finishing on 25th December 2025. I did have to remove some thick hairs and kemp like fibres from this one and the finished yarn is quite crisp and I wouldn't use it next-to-skin. I got a fingering weight yarn that is 96g/399m.

The knitted piece only used 12g of the yarn and I finished knitting it on 10th January 2026.

Finnish Landrace - Finland

Finnish Landrace, also known as Finn sheep or just Finn for short, is an ancient breed from Finland kept for milk, meat, wool and vegetation management as they can feed on rough pasture.  Their milk is often used in cheesemaking. They are known to be one of the most prolific sheep in the world having three, four or five lambs at a time but they can have as many a nine.  The lambs are born small but grow fast and they mature early, being able to be mated themselves at six months old, although they are usually older than this when they first mate.  They are often used in cross breeding programmes to improve lambing rates. 

They are a medium-side breed with rams weighing around 68-91kg and ewes weighing 54 - 82kg.  They are usually polled and the face and legs are free of wool.  They are predominantly white but can come in a range of colours similar to those of the Shetland breed.  The second most common colour is black or black piebald.  Grey, brown and fawn shades can be quite rare.  It seems that availability of colour can depend greatly on where in the world the Finn sheep are being raised.  For instance, it seems that in Australia, white is the only colour available and the wool is longer and softer because they have been bred to have these traits through selective breeding.  This breed can have markings such as a white tail tip, white stockings, white crown, panda-like eye spots.

Finns' fleeces and their wool, often described as silky, is more sleek than fluffy.  It has a nice amount of crimp that gives yarns spun from it a pleasant resilience, although it can't be described as springy.  Most Finn fibre is white with a warm cast to it, but coloured fibre can be found if you search hard enough.  Almost all Finns are single-coated, although their heritage means a double-coated fleece may occasionally appear.  

Finn sheep fleece weighs 1.8-3.6kg with a yield of 50-70%, often on the high end.  The staple lengths are 7.5cm-15cm (3-6 inches), and the count is 24-31 microns.  The fleece is open, and the locks can be separated easily.  The locks are slightly pointed and occasionally have sun-damaged tips.  Shorter locks can be carded, but Finn has the perfect staple lengths for combing and combing makes the most of the lustre.  You can fluff out the locks and spin straight from them, or with one of the longer fleeces, you might want to spin from the fold.  Finn is a lovely, easy-to-spin wool.

Finn is a versatile wool, being sturdy enough to wear well, and some of it is fine enough to be worn next to the skin. It's best to do a tickle test on your neck before you decide what to make with your yarn.  It's a good choice for sweaters, blankets and other snuggly garments.  The fibre's body and lustre make it a great choice for textured knit and purl patterns or woven laces, as well as for crisply defined colour patterns.  

 

I had a choice of two fibre lots that I could use for this project, both commercially prepared top that I already had in my stash.  I had to choose between 50g of white from a breed exploration box I bought in 2020 or 100g of brown that was part of the 2021 Advent Calendar.  I thought about it and I wasn't sure if 50g would make enough yarn to knit the name sample, it might but it would potentially be very tight, and I really don't want to be playing yarn chicken or running out just before I complete it.  Looking at the colours of the other breeds that are in this project, whilst there is a nice amount of different colours and textures, overall white is dominant making the decision to use the brown really easy.

The first thing I had to do was to split it into two and then pre-draft prior to spinning. There was a number of thick white hairs and kemp and I removed this as I worked, both in the pre-drafting and the spinning. It is a pleasant and easy fibre to spin and has spun up to nice and next-to-skin soft fingering weight yarn and I got 96g/306m from this spinning, which I done 21st to 23rd December 2025.

I knit the project piece in the new year, once the Christmas decorations had been packed away, starting on the day that my youngest returned to University and I was knitting whilst the carpet fitters were putting the new carpet on the stairs and landing, which means the renovation of that area is finally finished in full now.  I finished knitting on 7th January 2026.

The stitch definition is pretty good, the words can definitely be read on this one.