What they share
Brown Sheep Company has spun and dyed wool in Nebraska since 1980, and everything it makes is American wool, mostly untreated, in a color card that runs to sixty-odd solids and heathers on the biggest lines. None of it is superwash: every line below is hand wash, and every wool line felts, which is the point of some of them. The prices are among the lowest on our shelves for a wool of this quality, and the dye lots are generous. Nature Spun also comes in sport and fingering weights; we stock the worsted.
Side by side
| Fiber | Skein | Weight | Gauge | Felts? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamb's Pride Worsted | 85% wool, 15% mohair, single | 113 g (4 oz), 190 yd | Worsted | 4½ sts/in on US 8 | Fast and even |
| Lamb's Pride Bulky | 85% wool, 15% mohair, single | 113 g (4 oz), 125 yd | Bulky | 3 sts/in on US 10½ | Fast and even |
| Nature Spun Worsted | 100% wool, 3-ply | 100 g, 245 yd | Worsted | 5 sts/in on US 7 | Yes |
| Prairie Spun DK | 100% wool, 3-ply | 100 g, 256 yd | DK | 22 sts/4" on US 6 | Yes |
| Harborside Aran | 100% wool, 4-ply | 100 g, 162 yd | Aran | 16 sts/4" on US 9 | Yes |
| Top of the Lamb | 100% wool, single | 100 g, 190 yd | Worsted | 5 sts/in on US 8 | Yes |
| Cotton Fleece | 80% pima cotton, 20% merino | 100 g, 215 yd | DK to light worsted | 5 sts/in on US 6 | No |
Lamb's Pride: the one with the mohair
Lamb's Pride is the yarn most people mean by "Brown Sheep": a loosely spun single of wool with 15% mohair, in a 4-ounce skein rather than the usual 100 g. The mohair does three things. It gives the yarn a faint halo, so the fabric looks softer than a plain wool. It makes it strong — mohair fiber is long and does not break — so mittens and hats wear for years. And it makes Lamb's Pride the fastest, most even felting yarn we stock, which is why nearly every felted-bag and slipper pattern of the last thirty years was written for it; the felting guide has the shrinkage.
The mohair is also why it is not for everyone against the neck. It is not scratchy in the way a coarse wool is, but the halo tickles, and anyone who finds mohair itchy will find Lamb's Pride itchy. Over a shirt it is fine for almost everybody.
Worsted and Bulky are the same blend at two gauges. Worsted knits at 4½ stitches to the inch and takes about three skeins for a hat and mittens or ten for a sweater; Bulky is half the yardage at 3 stitches to the inch, for felted bags, slippers, rugs and the quickest hats. Both come in the same fifty-odd colors, so a bag can be lined in the worsted of its own color.
Nature Spun and Prairie Spun: the plied wools
Nature Spun Worsted is the opposite kind of yarn: a smooth, round three-ply of plain wool with no mohair and no halo, 245 yards to 100 g, in the biggest color card Brown Sheep makes. It is the colorwork yarn — the solids and heathers were chosen to sit next to each other, the plied strand shows a stitch crisply, and untreated wool grips its neighbor so the floats stay put, as the colorwork guide explains. It is also the plain sweater wool, the weaving yarn and the crochet yarn, because a three-ply does not split.
Prairie Spun DK is the same three-ply wool a weight lighter, 256 yards to 100 g at 22 stitches to 4", for DK sweaters, colorwork hats and anything where worsted would be too warm. The two can be used together in one project, worsted body and DK trim, since the dye colors match.
Harborside Aran: the cable yarn
Harborside Aran is a four-ply, which makes it the roundest and bounciest yarn in the range and the one that shows a cable in relief. It is a true aran weight — 16 stitches to 4" on a US 9, 162 yards to 100 g — so a fisherman's sweater pattern written for aran knits to gauge in it, and a worsted pattern does not. Hats, blankets and anything that wants squish and structure.
Top of the Lamb: the rustic single
Top of the Lamb is a single-ply worsted wool with a history: the same yarn Brown Sheep has spun for Navajo weavers for most of a century. It is sturdier and less soft than Lamb's Pride, with no mohair, and it is the yarn for a rug, a woven piece, a felted thing that needs to be plain wool, or a hard-wearing outer layer. For a sweater you will wear against a shirt it is honest and warm; for a scarf, choose something softer.
Cotton Fleece: the one that does not felt
Cotton Fleece is 80% pima cotton with 20% merino, and it is here to solve the problem with cotton sweaters: cotton does not spring back, so ribbing sags and a hem stretches. The merino gives it enough memory to hold a rib and enough loft to feel like wool on the needle, while the cotton keeps it cool. It knits at 5 stitches to the inch on a US 6, between DK and worsted, and it is the summer-sweater yarn in the range. It will not felt, and it is still hand wash, cool. The summer yarn guide sets it beside the other cottons.
Which to buy
A felted bag, slippers or the warmest mittens: Lamb's Pride Worsted, or Bulky for anything felted that should be thick. A stranded colorwork sweater or hat: Nature Spun Worsted, or Prairie Spun DK for a lighter one. A cabled aran sweater: Harborside Aran. A rug or a weaving warp: Top of the Lamb. A summer sweater that holds its shape: Cotton Fleece. And if a pattern calls for Lamb's Pride by the skein, remember the skein is 4 ounces and 190 yards, not 100 g — check the yardage before substituting anything else, as the substitution guide shows.
