CVM Handspun Wool Lot — Natural Grey, Heritage Rare-Breed Fleece, 4 Skeins

Four skeins of handspun, single-ply CVM wool in undyed natural grey — the soft taupe-pewter the fleece grew, no overdye, no commercial mill in the chain. Spun in 2017 and waiting in a stash ever since, hand-tagged with yardage on the original paper hangtags. Sold together as one lot.

About CVM wool — California Variegated Mutant. CVM is a naturally-coloured strain of the American Romeldale sheep (a Romney × Rambouillet cross developed in California in the 1940s). The colour genetics were rescued in the 1960s by Glen Eidman, who spotted the "badger-faced" lambs that conventional Romeldale shepherds had been culling because the market only wanted white wool. He line-bred them into a separate breed, and the CVM was born — silver, taupe, charcoal, moorit, black, badger-face, and every gradient in between, all of it grown by the sheep.

The breed is rare. The Livestock Conservancy lists Romeldale/CVM — including this colour line — as a heritage conservation breed at risk; there have never been many of them, and small flocks scattered across North America still account for most of the world's clip. The fibre is fine for a working wool — about 22–25 microns, with a 3–4 inch staple — which makes it spin and knit a great deal like Merino, but with longer staple and a softer hand than most rare-breed wools. Handspinners prize it. There is no industrial substitute.

This particular lot is four hand-tied skeins from a single 2017 spin. Each skein is individually weighed and yardage-tagged in pen on the original paper hangtag. Total lot weight on the postal scale: 14.0 oz (approximately 397 g). Approximate total yardage: ~898 yards across four skeins. Aran/heavy-worsted weight, single-ply with the gentle thick-thin variation only a wheel can lay down.

• Fibre: 100% CVM (California Variegated Mutant) wool, undyed natural grey
• Construction: single-ply, handspun
• Weight class: aran / heavy-worsted
• Skeins: 4 — sold as one lot, will not be split
• Lot weight: 14.0 oz total (skeins individually 3.0 / 4.3 / 2.2 / 4.5 oz)
• Approximate total yardage: ~898 yards (per-tag: 292, 192, 288, 126)
• Spin year: 2017
• Care: Hand wash cool, no agitation; lay flat to dry

Lovely for: a single-skein hat plus matching mittens, a wide cabled cowl, a textured one-skein vest panel, or a small naturally-coloured throw worked in garter ridges to let the heathered grey carry the surface. Hold a strand of laceweight silk alongside if you want to push the gauge up to bulky for a quick yoke or a heavy collar. With ~898 yards of aran-weight wool across four matched skeins this is enough for a real garment, not just an accessory — a cropped naturals sweater is in range.

Condition: excellent. Skeins are clean, intact, and hand-tied; the original paper hangtags are still on the skeins (visible in the photos). Stored in the cabinet between intake and listing.

Curator's Cabinet — handspun, single spin, rare conservation breed. When this lot is gone there is no second batch behind it; CVM fleece is spun by hand, by small farmers, one season at a time.

Quick reference: Color: natural undyed grey · Yarn weight: Aran · Thickness: Aran · Fiber: 100% CVM (California Variegated Mutant) wool · Skein weight: 99 g