Oh The Fiber – Outaouais Arcott Wool

 

As I had mentioned before Outaouais Arcott is one of 3 candadian arcott breeds.  There is the canadian arcott and the rideau arcott. all three have similar beginnings. However there are differences between the breeds.

 

The Canadian Arcott is heavier meat sheep with meduim wool.  The base 2 breeds for creating this breed were suffolk and Ile de France. The rams from this breed are often used to create a meatier sheep.(information from http://sheepbreeders.ca/breed_profiles/canadian_arcott.html)

 

 

The Rideau Arcott is a super heavy duty lambing and milking machine. The original genetics came from the Finnish Landrace, Suffolk and East Friesian breeds. This is a maternal breed and they do require extra feed and care due to the prolific fertility. You wouldn’t have believed how hard it was to find pictures of these breeds.

(information from http://sheepbreeders.ca/breed_profiles/arcott_rideau.html)

 

And now what you have been waiting for the Fiber!

I really like this fiber it is medium soft to me meaning it had some prickles when put next to the neck. It is called a variable fleece. The crimp is amazing! Slighly crispy , and bouncy with long staple.

 

This wool dyes up wonderfully. It was  rainy day when I took pics so not the usually bright pics I can get. Still on the drying racks.

 

 

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Picture courtesy of the Canadian Sheep Breeders Association

 

The Outaouais Arcott (said oot-a-way) is one of a triad of breeds established at the Agriculture Canada research station near Ottawa.  Outaouais were wrought by melding quite a few breeds . Some of the chief breeds are the Suffolk, Finnish Landrace, and Shropshire. These sheep The sheep ensuing from the selective breeding program were available to  Canadian producers in 1988.

Most conspicuous about this sheep is its fertility. The ewes can carry triplets or larger litters without losing condition and the lambs grow rapidly.  The rams weigh in at around 176-220 pds and the ewes come in at around 165-198pds. They are polled  with a wool-free face and legs.

 

To be frank there was little I could find about the breed but I had to possess some just to try out. I  am a infatuated with this fiber.

 

Information from http://sheepbreeders.ca/breed_profiles/outaouais_arcott.html

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 Sorry about the late post I’ve been having some technical issues. I’m glad it’s working right again. I was ready to  stab something with a short pointy needle (lol).

 

 

 

 

Types of stitch markers

 

 

 

Montadale wool

 

 

 

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The fleece of the montadale is radiant white or natural hued black being the most popular with spinners. A minimum staple of 4 inches, it should be free of hair or kemp. Montadales have very little lanolin in the fleece which produces a higher harvest. Fleeces from ewes typically weight 8-12 pds. The micron count is between 25 to 32 making this a medium to coarse wool.

Here are some gorgous fleece from Montadale sheep:

 

Here is some of my dark brown montadale. I found this to be on the softer side. It passed the under the bra strap test. I forgot it was there.

 

 

 

Information from Oklahoma State University,and Breed standard from the Montadale Sheep Breeders Association

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Montadale are a line of sheep that were cultivated in the 1930’s by E.H. Mattingly. He was mid-western commercial lamb buyer who wanted to breed a supreme sheep. Mattingly wanted to schlep the characteristics of mutton sheep together with big western range sheep. Thus the montadale was created and is designed  to be dual purpose sheep raised for both meat and wool. The two families applied for this project were the cheviot(you can check out the post on cheviot here) and Columbia breeds.

 

Cheviot was chosen for it’s carriage, robustness and muscularity. The Columbia was chosen for it’s burly build and substantial, thick fleece. Mattingly tried breeding columbia rams to cheviot ewes, but breeding cheviot rams to columbia ewes(this proved to be the better cross), this crossing was chosen to be the cornerstone for the new breed. Over the next few years the breed was refined and has attracted the acknowledgment of sheep producers.

 

Montadales are a polled breed. The rams weigh in at an ample 200-275 pds and ewes at about 150 to 200 pds. This breed is available to spinners in colors but the Montadale Sheep Breeders Association is very specific on coloring for registration purposes.

 

Information from Oklahoma State University,and Breed standard from the Montadale Sheep Breeders Association.

 

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Sale at Store get 40% off until tonight at 11:59 pm. Use coupon code XMASINJULY.

 

 

Paco-Vicuna  spun fiber

 

 

 

 New bracelets what do you think. I think they are awesome!

 Let me know how you likes these and if you like th idea of an ajustable chain:)

 

 

Paco-vicuna ranks right up there with cashmere on the finess scale. It is very light weight and there are several natural colors, cream , lt.beige, honey-tan, and golden brown. This fleece can be teased, carded or combed. The length is between that of vicuna and alpaca at around 1.5 to 3  inches. It can be dehaired but I don’t see the point unless there is alot of guard hair. In my reading I didn’t see that this was an issue.  The micron count of this fiber is usually between 13-20 microns., super fine!

I ended up with 4 delicious colors, but of course I had to dye the white to see how it would take.

 

 

 

 

 

My paco-vicuna is luxuriously soft and buttery. It dyes well.

 

 

 

 All information provided by Switzer-Land Paco-Vicunas and Alpacas and The Paco-Vicuna Registry

 

 

 Check out the Overstock X-mas in July sale at The Fiber of My Being! Use coupon code XMASINJULY to get a 40% discount off your order. My Fibery bins are full !!!! 

 

I saw this  fiber in a swap and had to have it. I know what an alpaca is , I know what a vicuna is, I also know that alpacas are the descendants of vicunas, but what the hell is a paco-vicuna? A googling I will go……..

A paco – vicuna is basically a cross between an alpaca and a vicuna this happens all the time in south america where the vicunas run free without fences and the alpacas are sheparded without fences.  I had the opportunity to talk to Chris  Switzer at  Switzer-Land Paco-Vicunas and Alpacas. She explained that their are very strict standard to meet paco-vicuna requirements. Most have to do with the micron count of the fiber. The reasons to breed paco-vicuna are many the vicuna which is still a threatened species ,difficult to raise in captivity, and are protected by laws because of their numbers. Paco – vicuna fiber is finer than that of the alpaca.

 

After talking to Chris I realized they were breeding to get the best of two worlds. The finest quality fiber and the most domesticated animals.

 

There are many classifications of this animal based on how close they come to being an actual vicuna. When I was researching I found 5 specifically but other  sites had 3. I decided to go with what the Paco-Vicuna Registry had to say and go with 5.

 

I’m not going to go into all 5 specifics and bore you to death but I am going to show the differences between suri alpaca, huacaya alpaca, vicuna and paco-vicuna.

 

 

 

 

All information provided by Switzer-Land Paco-Vicunas and Alpacas and The Paco-Vicuna Registry.

This weeks contest is for a set of gorgeous stitch markers made by my dear friend Wendy. Post a comment by 11:59 on Wednesday July 4th and I announce a winner on the Fantastic Fiber Friday video.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few pics of the flood destruction the next town over had to endure and is still dealing with:

 

 

First 2 photos by Gabor Degre from Bangor Daily News.

 

 

Pics by Kayla  Bailey from the Bangor Daily News.

New Batts for the Store!

 

 

Watch for a new contest this week!!!!!!!

 

The gorgeous characteristics of the Border Leicester wool are some that spinners long for. The wool is  long and lustrous with a 38-30 micron count.  This  fleece falls in well defined  locks with curled tips , and  usually measures 6-10 inches, with shorter lengths the first year.  Border Leicester’s can be sheared once or twice a year depending on the herder.  Ewes average 8-12 pounds of grease wool annually. The yield of this fleece is pretty high after scouring at 70%. There are quite a few natural colors of border leicester fleece

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another  gorogeous baby!!!

 

My Friend Kim was kinda enough to bring me a yearling border leicester fleece.

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn’t resist this last one.

 

Information from Wikipedia and The American Border Leicester Association.

 

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