Ouessant - France

Ouessant sheep, (pronounced weh-SAHN), are named for the small rocky French island in the English Channel known as Ushant or Ouessant, where the breed was developed.  They are also known as Mouton d'Ouessant and Breton Island Dwarf. They are a primitive, heritage breed of sheep that belong to the Northern European Short-Tailed family of sheep. The are reputed to be the smallest sheep in the world with rams standing just 49cm at the withers and ewes standing at 45cm at the withers.  The island's shepherds traditionally selected for smaller sheep that could produce a bit of meat and fibre on limited feed, they also strongly selected for black sheep.  Although the breed can throw an occasional white animal, most are solid black or moorit brown.  

Rams have two relatively large horns, ewes are polled.  Black and brown rams grow dark horns whilst the white rams grow lighter coloured horns. Ewes are single-lambing, and the breed is primarily used for wool production.  They are strong and very hardy and extremely sensitive to threats and danger and will flock together to protect themselves and their lambs from predators.  They are able to survive on meagre pasture and are also capable of producing a good amount of high-quality wool.  In Paris, the city government recently began using a small herd of Ouessant sheep to graze public lands.  They are also used to graze vineyards and orchards.

The Ouessant existed exclusively on its home island until the beginning of the 20th century, when they almost went extinct and were only saved by a few aristocrats allowing the few remaining sheep to graze and breed on the land surrounding their chateaux.  Though no longer found there, they are widespread throughout Europe, with Ouessant breed societies in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK.  The breed is also gaining in popularity in the US and NZ.

As they are one of the Northern European Short-Tailed breeds they have retained the tendency to shed their fleece. The fleece is of a primitive type, double-coated, well packed.  Rams develop manes of longer coarser hair and kemp on the nape of their necks and throats which may be darker.

The fleece generally weighs 1kg - 1.6kg for a ewe or 1.1kg - 1.8kg for a ram.  Average staple lengths are 3¼-4 inches (8-10cm) long but can be shorter or longer than this average.  The undercoat can be quite fine, with micron counts in the mid to lower 20s.  The outercoat can be quite a bit coarser, in the mid 30s.  The average is 25-28 microns. Typical of double coated fleeces, the staples are triangular, with wide bases consisting of the fine undercoat and very pointed tips formed by the coarse guard hairs.  

It will be pointless trying to dye a dark fleece but a white or grey fleece can be dyed, taking into account the base colour and the fact that different fibre types in the fleece will take dye differently.

The different coats can be separated or spun together.  Combing and flicking will separate the different fibres but you can also just hold the lock and pull the longer hairs out by hand.  You can card the fibres if they aren't too long but it will be difficult to keep everything together and mixed.  If you are separating the fibres you will have to judge when to stop removing any shorter guard fibres in the knowledge that the yarn will only ever be as soft as the coarsest fibres.  Guard hairs are most co-operative if spun worsted style.  The undercoat can be spun worsted if its long enough, or woollen.

If you make a yarn that contains both coats it will have texture but will always be scratchy.  Outercoat yarns make fabulous warp yarns in weaving, although can be knitted or crocheted for something requiring strength and texture, such as a crochet storage basket.  The undercoat on its own can be soft enough for socks, mitten or other garments.

I brought this breed in as 100g of washed fleece in May 2022, but it was so dirty with dust and soil that I washed it myself before I combed it.  

I didn't actually comb it until February 2024, leaving me with 50g of lovely spinning fibre that is soft and bouncy.  The reason for so much loss was that the fleece was full of VM and scrappy little bits of short fibres/second cuts about 1cm long.  Interestingly though, I did not realise that this breed was a double-coated breed at the time of preparing the fibre. I certainly didn't notice it in the fleece that I prepared, and I can't really see it in any of the photos either.

I started spinning this on 4th August, finished on 5th August and it was a pleasant, easy and straightforward spin, very much like spinning Jacob or any of the "downs" breeds. It is relatively soft and very bouncy. I achieved a yarn that was 46g/176m.

I knit the piece for the project on 29th August. It is a proper black, black rather than the often brown-black of so many dark-coloured fleeces.