Know your sheep - The Rambouillet

As we welcome our latest yarn; Vale by Brooklyn Tweed we are taking a closer look into the breed of sheep that it is made from. Brooklyn Tweed, the yarn aficionado’s pride themselves in using American wool as well as it being manufactured in America.

Rambouillet also known as the Spanish Merino is the fleece chosen for Vale. Whilst the Rambouillet sheep is named after a French town they are now widely farmed across America. Its interesting origins start in Spain, where the first records show the King of Spain gifting France 359 sheep all the way back in 1786 after years of dominating the European Wool Trade and rarely exporting raw Merino fleece.

Rambouillet, know your sheep, yak blog, brooklyn tweed, vale, — (c) wild rose farm / appalatch

During the French revolution and the demise of the Spanish Empire, the Merino sheep started to travel round the world mixing with other breeds. The Rambouillet sheep were safe guarded by care takers and the breed stayed surprisingly pure, maintaining its beautiful soft fleece. By the mid 1800’s Americans had started to import small flocks from France, since then the Rambouillet has become the back bone for the American wool industry.

Because of the breed’s fine fleece and rapid growth it is now commonly used in all types of clothing. It is compared to Merino in quality, as it has many of the same genes and characteristics.

So here we have Vale from Brooklyn Tweed, an all American wonderful lofty, light, and bouncy lace weight yarn. Worsted spun to give it an incredible polished finish and softness. Making lace work sing and stitches pop.

Until Next Time… Happy Knitting!