In my last post, I promised to give you more insider info on the Ramboillet wool and yarn I recently purchased from a West Texas Rancher. His name is Gene Edmiston, and he posts photos and videos of his ginormous flock on FB. There is still a drought in his area, so he has been buying hay for all these pretty critters.
2020
As I understand it, he grew frustrated with selling fleeces on the commercial market, so he reached out to the spinning and weaving community. I was eager to support a Texas based grower.
I ordered a raw (unwashed but skirted) fleece from him three years ago. He delivered it to my house because he was bringing a ram to shepherd in Cedar Hill. (I still need to find that person.)
I split the huge fleece with the true expert, Victoria Owens. We both tackled it with all the skills we have accumulated over the years. We had moderate success turning those soft, crimpy locks into decent yarn.
I was determined to wash away the dirt without losing the lanolin, Ramboillet Sheep have A LOT of lanolin. I started with cold water soaks and rainwater baths. I eventually tried warm water and soap with mixed results.
. I sat in my back yard combing wool, lock by lock, using sunlight to soften the abundant lanolin, so the wool could be spun. My results were not great. But, it was soft and usable yarn.
Victoria properly scoured the fleece and then worked with a hot pad to keep the wool warm enough to be carefully carded and spun into yarn. She had better results than I did.
Eventually, we put the fleece away and pursued other fibers, for a while.
2022
Last Fall, I met Gene in person at the DFW Fiberfest and saw some beautiful roving and quilt batts in his booth. He also sells sheep skin rugs and locally woven blankets. I didn’t buy from him that day because I was going to the Mountain and Valley Wool Festival in Santa Fe, NM the next week.
2023
In an effort to bring back the West Texas wool industry, Gene has reopened the San Angelo Wool Mill, which has been shuttered for 20 years, and used it to process some of last years’s clip. I decided to order one pound of roving and one pound of combed top and it is lovely. The texture is soft and squishy with a little VM and some neps. (Neps are tiny pills of wool that are created by friction, in wool and finished
I am throughly enjoying spinning the roving I purchased with the yarn. No real plan for the finished yarn yet- just playing with it. I am contemplating weaving with the unseen roving. It has a little VM (vegetable matter) but not too much.
If you would like to try some of the roving or combed top, let me know! I have lots and I would like to see how it works for other folks. My eventual goal is to be able to offer 100% Texas Grown wool (and maybe yarn) for knitters and weavers.
Sweet!!