Wensleydale Sheep

Wensleydale Sheep can be traced back to one individual sheep, a ram lamb born in 1839 in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, that was a cross between an old-type Teeswater ewe (prior to that breeds improvement) and a new Leicester ram (the improved Leicester Longwool as bred by Robert Bakewell).  This new ram had a blue head and blue ears, which is a recessive trait of the Leicester Longwool, and the ram was named Bluecap by its owners.  Bluecap turned out to be very potent and was leased to other farmers to breed from, mostly to breed with Teeswaters.  He passed his blue-headed trait on to his offspring and by the 1870's these unique sheep were recognised as a separate breed.

The Wensleydale sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 4: At Risk (900-1500) registered breeding ewes. They are usually found in pedigree flocks throughout the UK.

They are a large, hardy English Longwool build sheep with a distinctive blue head, ears and legs.  Both sexes polled.

They produce a large size fleece that is kemp free and weighs 3.5kg-9kg, although most likely 4.5-6.8kg. It has long, lustrous, shiny, curly ringlets that hang independently from each other and is among the most sought after wool in the UK.  The wool is uniform throughout the fleece and doesn't felt well. The staples are 7-12 inches (18-30.5cm) long.  Most of the sheep are white but grey and black can also be found and these fleece are beautiful and very expensive due to their rarity. 

The locks can be spun or woven as locks to give texture or used unspun to make a fleece rug, as can any of the English Longwool breeds with long enough staples.  The locks can be flicked open for spinning and combing works very well but will need really long strokes and when you diz off the combs you need a combination of firmness, widely spaced hands and patience.  When spinning keep your hands far enough apart to draft the very long fibres.  Can also be used as dolls hair.  When dyeing the exceptional lustre produces clear, bright colours.

Yarns spun from Wensleydale fleece work well as weaving yarns and are unusually fine for a Longwool breed.  They lean more towards tapestry and upholstery rather than rugs due to their fineness.  Gives good drape and stitch definition to knitting and crochet.  

I have bought this breed in as pre-prepared fibre in a box containing 50g each of four British Breeds.

My finished yarn is of medium quality to the touch of the hand and is quite soft and supple for a Longwool breed but you can feel the slight prickliness of it.  I have 53g/91m of sport weight yarn.  My knitted piece for the project took 36g/62m so I have a small amount left to do whatever with.