Oh The Fiber – Border Leicester sheep

British Border Leicester courtesy of A nosa disco Necesitanos on flickr

Border Leicesters are  a breed of sheep that originated in Northumberland, England. The name comes from their birthplace near the border of Scotland . It is believed that the foundation stock was  Robert Blackwell’s improved or Dishley Leicesters.  The ewes were either Teeswater or Cheviot although there is debate as to which was used. Perhaps both. By the end of the 19 century this breed was established in England and outnumbered the old English Leicester in popularity.

American Border Leicester by chronographia on flickr

Border Leicesters are  dual breed of sheep raised for meet and wool. They are polled and long -woolled. It is said that the first herd of Border Leicesters was brought to America by George Washington who kept his purebred flock at Mount Vernon.  No one is really sure when they were introduced to North America but the 1920 census shows 767 purebred Border Leicesters in the U.S. The America Border Leicester Association

Trotting Border Leicester thanks to John and Barbara on flickr

 BThe English Leicester is said to have been introduced into the United States by George Washington, who kept a small purebred flock of Leicesters and used the rams extensively in his flock of 800 head at Mount Vernon. It is not known when the first sheep of Border Leicester type arrived in North America, but the 1920 census lists 767 purebred Border Leicesters in the U.S. The American Border Leicester Association was established in the U.S. in 1973.

Beautiful Border Leicester by RiverCrouchWalker on flickr

Border Leicesters are a larger breed sheep. The rams can weigh in  175 -300 pds, and the ewes go from 150-225 pds. The ewes are productive, they are great milkers and wonderful mothers. This breed are good foragers and can get along with less feed than many other larger breeds. They are fast maturing. border Leicesters have a great temperament and are easy to handle. The have a regal look about them with their arched roman noses.

Awesome pic of 2 border leicester lambs and a bird by zlithgow on flickr

Check out some of the newest R&R BAtts

 Information from  wikipedia  and The American Border Leicester Association

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Here is how it looked when I finally got the editing and stuff done.

Pouring rain

Racka Fiber:

combed and carded racka fiber

Top picure is carded, bottom one is combed

And finally let me know in the comments below which stitch markers you like best,

set 1

set 2

set 3

set 4

look at the length of that fleece shared by wolmuts on flickr

 I was amazed at the length of the wool in some of these pictures. It seems that racka’s come in 2 varieties. There is one that has brown hair covering the legs and head, the fleece goes from dark brown to light brown and white. The other color is solid black with age the black individuals turn gray.The staple length is about 12 inches. It varies from 12-40 microns so from supersoft to quite coarse.

Isn’t this baby adorable? thanks to MaretH on flickr

 I found this fleece to be quite interesting. The long locks have some really nice luster. I found it to be scratchy,crunchy and crispy. Not for a next to skin application I think it would work as rug warp and weft it would be wonderful or for outerwear.

 Here are the pictures of my Racka fleece.

Unwashed racka fleece

unwashed lock

washed racka fleece

washed lock

This stuff dyes great!!!

dyed fleece

I couldn’t resist this last pic. I think some people really love their Rackas.

thanks to tillwe on flickr for sharing this

 Information from wikipedia and Oklahoma state university breeds of livestock.

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huge herd of racka sheep courtesy of barithelamb

Racka Sheep are wonderfully primitive and unique sheep. They are attention grabbers due to their unusual horns which appear on both sexes. These distinctive animals originated in Hungary and have been around at least since the 1800’s (when they were finally documented).

They are a hearty breed being multipurpose for wool, milk and meat. They have a quiet disposition that has made them a favorite for hobby farms.

gorgeous racka sheep by culinaryanthropologist on flickr

Now about those awesome horns!!!! Both sexes sport corkscrew horns that seem to come from the very top of the head. On the males they can get up to 2 ft long! That’s a lot of pointy protection! The minimum length for rams is 20 inches and for ewes is 12-15 inches.

great close-up of racka horns thanks to fveronesi1 on flickr

Overall this is a smaller breed ewes weigh around 88 lb, and rams 132 lb. The Racka are so hardy they have been used to bring that trait into other breeds.

racka herd by sftrajan on flickr

I couldn’t resist one last one….Thanks to Ulli J. on flickr

 Information from wikipedia and Oklahoma state university breeds of livestock.

The winner of this weekends contest is Irkalla. Irkalla I will be contacting you shortly.

 I used a random number generator by Random.org.

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Congrats to the contest winners!!!!

Rambouillet fibers:

In the excitement and distress  of having no internet and this weeks contest, I just realized this is my 200th post!!!!! I’ve decided to do a quick weekend contest for fiber. Anyone who responds to the blog by monday 7am will be entered for some mini-batts!!!!

You could get something like this:

Or Something like this:

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!!!!!

pretty rambouillet sheep courtesy of Jam_mam on flickr

The Rambouillet is also called Rambouillet Merino or the French Merino. The development of the Rambouillet breed started in 1786 with Spanish Merinos. Outcrossing with English long-wool breeds and selection produced a well-defined breed with a larger body size and longer wool. This made it a dual purpose breed.

Polled rambouillet ram by Prairie Daisy Handspun on flickr

In 1889, the Rambouillet Association was formed in the United States. The objective was to preserve the breed. It has been estimated that 50% of the sheep on the US western ranges are of Rambouillet blood.

Horned Rambouillet Ram by baalands on flickr

Rambouillet rams weigh between 250 and 300 pounds, and  ewes range from 150 to 200 pounds .  Their faces are free from wool , the lips and nostrils are pink. They can be polled or horned.RAmbouillets are hard and adaptable to different climates and can forage in a variety of conditions. Ewes are great lambers with frew problems. They have a well developed flocking instinct and are easy to handle. A resistance to internal parasites and disease is a plus.

rambouillet ewe courtesy of baalands on flickr

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

I couldn't resist showing these pretty ewes , thanks to baalands on flickr

 If you would like a free mini lesson with moi, you need to post on last fridays blog to be entered in the contest!!!!!

pictures from this weeks video

Rescued and Recycled Silky Yarn

Rescued and Recycled Art Yarn

Silk-ee Batts with recycled silk thrums

Rescued and Recycled Art batts

 

 

 

Rescued and Recycled Silk-ee Batt closeup

 

 

Rescued and Recycled Silk-ee Batt

 

Silk-ee Batt

 

Silk-ee Batt close-up

 Remember to enter in the contest leave a comment on this post, you have until 11:59 pm on June 14, 2012.

Ewe and Lamb courtesy of csmarkham

The BABYDOLL Southdown is polled. They must be 24″ or under shorn, measured straight up the front leg to the top of the shoulder. Lambing without difficulty is one of the qualities of the “Babydolls;” therefore, ewes under 18 inches are discouraged.

I couldn't resist posting this little face!!!! thatnks to michaelcobballen on flickr.

The wool should be very fine and quite dense the and cover the whole body from hocks to cheeks. Babydoll fleece generally runs in the 19 to 22 micron range, which puts the fleece in the class of cashmere. Babydoll fleece also has more barbs per inch than any other wool type, making it ideal for blending with other fibers.

Here is my babydoll fleece:

Unwashed Babydoll Southdown Fleece

Unwashed babydoll southdown lock

Washed Babydoll southdown

dyed babydoll southdown

All information from http://www.oldeenglishbabydollregistry.com/index.html and http://www.nabssar.org/index.html.

Make sure to check out Fantastic Fiber Friday for a new contest!!!!!

babydoll southdown by aprilio on flickr

Babydool Southdown sheep are one of the oldest sheep breeds in England. The originalted on the south down hills of Sussex County, England. These are small hardy sheep that were both a wool and meat sheep.

Babydoll Southdown Ram courtesy of Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep Registry

In 1780 John Ellman,saw the potential of these animals and standardized the Southdown breed. In England, these sheep grew in popularity up until 1908 when there were approximately 367 registered flocks totaling about 110,000 ewes. The first world war brought a halt to the southdowns growth and by the end of WWII the demand for larger cuts of lamb almost made the breed extinct.

Family of Southdowns by Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep Registry

Babydoll Southdowns reache the United states around 1803. They had the same popularity and decline as in England. When the small size of the Babydoll southdown couldn’t satisfy cunsumer demand. They started breeding with larger sheep to gain in size to be able to compete. This caused a divergence in the breed. There are now 2 lines: The southdown and the miniature or babydoll southdown. 

babydoll southdown by goldentouchfarm on flickr

 As the baby/mini southdowns were still dwindleing away in 1986 Mr. Robert Mock began a search for the sheep with the original blood lines that conformed to the original Southdown of the 1700s. After years of searching a total of 350 miniature sheep were found.  Mr. Mock named these Olde English Babydoll Southdowns and a registry was created to bring back this amazing breed.

How cute is this? thanks to aprilio on flickr

There is a great update to this story in 2006 it was established that there were 7832 Old English Babydoll Southdowns in the registry.I also noticed that when the article was written they were still on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. I checked it and as of February 2012 (as far as I know). It is off that list! I think that is totally awesome!!!!!

I couldn't resist this one!!!! I just want to kiss that little face. Thanks to csmarkham of flickr

 All information from http://www.oldeenglishbabydollregistry.com/index.html and http://www.nabssar.org/index.html.

Check out my Fiber Lessons and see what appeals to you as this friday I will be having a contest for mini fiber lessons!