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
