Debouillet Sheep

I’d like to introduce you to the very first breed that I worked with from raw fleece, the Debouillet sheep. This breed jumped on my radar because I had been looking for and spinning wools that were next to skin soft. At the time of purchase I was still only drop spindling. I had tried Merino, Blue Faced Leicester, Tasman Comeback, a Romney/Merino blend and some silk/Merino blends. All of these were roving or top that were already cleaned, processed and ready for drafting to spin. Since one of the main factors for me starting to spin was to get high quality yarns at a more affordable price, it occurred to me that doing the cleaning labor myself might help significantly cut some cost out. So I went down the Etsy rabbit hole of looking for a next to skin soft raw wool that could be purchased by the pound. Of course, in case this was a full blown failure, I didn’t want to have purchased a whole fleece. I very luckily came across Marathon Basin Wool Mill who was selling by the pound on Etsy. I’m going to do a full write up on them later, but here’s the headline … they are amazing! They also, so generously shared pictures of the Debouillet sheep they work with for this article. You can follow them on Instagram or Facebook. Now, on with the wool!

Photo is courtesy of the Marathon Basin Wool Mill in Texas.

Photo is courtesy of the Marathon Basin Wool Mill in Texas.

History

Debouillet sheep are an American breed that originated in New Mexico in the 1920s. Rancher Amos Dee Jones took Delaine Merinos from Ohio and Rambouillet sheep and bred them to create this new breed that was suited for the arid climates of New Mexico and Texas. Delaine Merinos (aka. Type C Merinos) have a very fine fleece with a range of 17-22 microns diameter. The wool they produce is best served by spinning a very fine single that will be very smooth. Rambouillets on the other hand have a much higher crimp and are ever so slightly more sturdy. Their wool tends to be more lofty because the crimp can trap more air, thusly leading to a warmer yarn. It’s easy to see how the properties of these 2 sheep could combine to make the beautiful Debouillet.

About the wool

Debouillet is not written about nearly enough for how beautiful this wool is to work with. I have relied heavily on The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius for my education on this breed. The wool of the Debouillet sheep tends to be 18-24 microns and has a tight crimp with great elasticity. It is incredibly greasy though worth the effort for this next to skin soft fiber. While both the Delaine and the Rambouillet generally top off at 4 inches of staple length, the Debouillet can go as high as 5 inches. That being said, my experience has been more in the 3 to 4 inch range.

Look at all that crimpy, lanolin rich goodness!

Look at all that crimpy, lanolin rich goodness!

My experience

When I first grabbed 2 pounds of this raw to try, multiple people cautioned me that it was not a great wool for beginners because of how fine it is and how easily it can be felted. Possibly the greatest laugh I got in this thread came from Seth Warnock, owner and mill master of Marathon Basin Wool Mill, who told me they have a sign over their sinks that reads “No Swishing, No Poking, No Touching and No Cussing while wool is in the sinks”. I pulled my fleece into locks, and laid them mostly neatly in the bottom of a pasta straining pot and then submerged that into a bucket of hot water. This gave me an easy way to lift the wool out of the water to change it. Can I be honest? I might have messed with the wool a bit while it was in the water. Just poking it gently with my thermometer, nothing vigorous. Luckily, it didn’t blow up in my face. Whew!

Debouillet is super greasy. All that golden yellow in the picture above is very tacky, waxy (and moisturizing) lanolin. To get all the lanolin off, I ended up cranking my hot water heater up a bit. The water comes out of my tap at approximately 150 degrees F now. Even at 150 degrees, I usually add a kettle or 2 of boiling water to keep the temp up while it soaks. You can see there is a big difference between the before and after below. After drying, I think there is still a little bit of lanolin left on the wool, but not enough to feel or smell bad. I honestly think I need to work on getting the water hotter in the future, but it works pretty well for now. I give it one wash with just hot water to start loosening up the dirt, 2 washes with Unicorn Power Scour, and 2 rinses with hot water to remove the soap.

In the middle picture above, you can see my homemade wool combs with a beautiful hand combed sliver of Debouillet. These combs worked okay with the Debouillet. The issue I had is that Debouillet is very neppy (meaning it has lots of little bumps and tangles that you probably want to remove). My chunky DIY wool combs were not up to the task of removing all of them. But I pressed on and still got a lovely, albeit rustic, fine single to use for plying. I have had much better luck with treating some fine tooth hand cards like wool combs and pulling individual locks through to open them up. Needless to say, working one lock at a time is very tedious work. The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook says to expect only a 35-55% yield from a Debouillet fleece. Between the weight of the lanolin you wash out and the wool you lose to neps, I would agree with their assessment. Luckily, these sheep tend to grow 9-18 pounds of fleece every year! That is incredible!

Fingering weight Debouillet 2-ply.

Fingering weight Debouillet 2-ply.

Here is my first skein of Debouillet. While it is far from perfect, I absolutely adore the luster this yarn has. It’s incredibly soft with a lovely bounce to it. This particular sheep had an ever so slightly creamy colored wool, and I expect it will dye up just beautifully if one wanted. I have experimented a bit with dyeing Debouillet which I will post about soon. All in all, I would definitely recommend giving this American sheep breed a try for any time you are looking for next to skin softness. So do you think you’ll give Debouillet some time at your wheel? Let me know in the comments below!

Sources:

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