rambouillet ewe and lambs by knitting iris on flickr

 

As I was doing my research I found a very interesting sentence “The fleece was valuable in the manufacture of cloth, at times being woven in a mixed fabric of cotton warp and wool weft, known as delaine.” It got me wondering what delaine was so……..

a beautiful ram ramboulette sheep by Nyr100 on flickr

 

delaine, ( French: “of wool”) any high-grade woolen or worsted fabric made of fine combing wool. Delaine was originally a high-quality women’s wear dress material.

To expand on this further; The word delaine is still applied to a staple all-wool fabric made in plain weave and of compact structure. Delaine sheep, a Merino type, are raised in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, and to a lesser extent in France.

So basically Delaine is a fancy word for fine wool cloth? Anyway on to the fleece!!!!!!

 

hite rambouillet fleece courtesy of great4wool on flickr

Fleeces will range from 8 to 18 pounds.   The fleece staple length will vary from two to four inches  and range in fiber diameter from 18.5 to 24.5 microns. Is usually cream to white in color. I haven’t seen any full blooded rambouillet that are colored but they may be out there. All the colored Rambouillets I have seen have been crosses.

Dark rambouillet cross fleece by great4wool on flickr

I wore this fleece and forgot I was wearing it until I took a shower that evening,  it’s that soft!

Here is my rambouillet fleece.

washed rambouillet locks

All dyed up! It takes dye beautifully and I have to thank my friend Rachel Jones for sending it too me. You can find her creating yarn and art batts at Ontheround.

Dyed rambouillet locks

 

close-up of dyed rambouillet locks

 

 

Information from: wikipedia,Oklahoma State University ,and The American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders Association

Don’t forget to comment 0n last friday’s post to be entered in this fridays drawing for your personalized mini lessons with me!!!!!

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