Teeswater Sheep

The Teeswater sheep is named after the River Tees which runs from Cross Fell (the highest summit in the Pennines) to the North Sea and is the area in which these sheep originate.  Todays Teeswaters have been improved from the original by the addition of infusions of "New Leicester" bloodlines shortly after Robert Bakewell developed the breed in the late 18th century and then they remained isolated and purebred after that.

The Teeswater sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 4: At Risk (900-1500) registered breeding ewes.   

They are a large, hardy English Longwool build sheep with a grey/white face with dark brown markings around the eyes and nose and it has a woolly forelock.  The legs are white and brown.  Both sexes polled.  Ewes weigh in at around 90kg and rams at around 120kg.

They produce a large size fleece that is kemp free and weighs 4kg-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 7-15 inches (18-38cm) long.  The sheep are white and black fibres are undesirable. 

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 Teeswater fleece work well as weaving yarns and are unusually fine for a Longwool breed.  Gives good drape and stitch definition to knitting and crochet.  

I have bought this breed in as 100g of pre-prepared fibre ready to spin.

My finished yarn is of medium quality to the touch of the hand and is quite soft and supple for a Longwool breed and doesn't have the slight prickliness that the Wensleydale does but it feels more dense too and after doing a comparison and a bit of math I have spun this one more densely than the Wensleydale, even though they both still fall within the parameters of sport weight.  I have 100g/130m of sport weight yarn.  My knitted piece for the project took 43g/56m so I have a small amount left to do whatever with.