Friday, August 23, 2019

Fiber Arts Friday: Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, Jacob-American

Image result for jacob sheep

Jacob - For the SE2SE initiative, I focused on sourcing roving as locally as possible first.

This roving was sourced from Aspen Kid, who is an advocate for wool, rare breeds, and our local Fiber Shed.

I actually purchased four different rovings from her, which you'll see later.  This wool came from sheep that live in my zip code.

As with the Navajo-Churro, I have spun Jacob before because they are on our sheep short list.


I love Jacob fleece and this sample was no exception.


This is a beautiful mill-prepared roving


with a very nice 3-inch staple.


I remember this being lovely to spin, but wow it's so much nicer to spin than I remember.... there is a reason this breed is on our short list.  ;-)



The Jacob sheep are purported to be decedents of sheep kept by Jacob, son-in-law of Laban, as described in the Book of Genesis, though there is no genetic evidence supporting this story.


From the Livestock Conservancy:  The Jacob sheep came to North America in the mid-1900's.

They are listed as Threatened, meaning that fewer than 1000 sheep are registered in the US each year and that the estimated global population is less than 5000.


I was wondering why The Livestock Conservancy was calling this breed Jacob-American instead of just Jacob, so according to the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, there are two varieties of Jacob Sheep:
  • American - which tend to be smaller and have been bred primarily for fleece characteristics 
  • British - which tend to be larger and have been bred primarily for meat production
I enjoyed spinning this sample.  The wool has a wonderful bouncy characteristic which has me thinking about hats and cabled sweaters.

As I've mentioned before, it feels good knowing that I am able to support a local conservation breeder of rare breed livestock.  :-)

Final Yarn: Jacob-American
Single Duration: July 13 - August 3, 2019
Ply Duration: August 3
ounces: 3 7/8
yards: 213, 2-ply
wpi:  12
Source: Mill-prepared roving
Ready to Submit:  August 9, 2019

SE2SE Status:
Total Breeds: 22
Breeds Sourced: 11
Breeds Spun: 4
Breeds To Go: 18

Months Remaining: 28 (12/31/21)


Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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