Quick Facts

This is a combed, worsted-spun, fingering-weight, three-ply yarn made from 100% Debouillet wool. The fibers in this batch average 4 inches with a fineness between 22 and 23 microns.

Breed Background

The Debouillet breed was developed in southeastern New Mexico by a second-generation sheep rancher named Amos Dee Jones. In the 1920s, Jones began crossing his flock of Rambouillet ewes with Ohio Delaine Merino rams. The goal was to produce a breed with the substantial body size of Rambouillet but with the generous staple and fleece characteristics of Delaine Merino. Armed only with life experience and a 7th-grade education, Jones focused on one trait at a time to develop a breed that, in 1955, was officially recognized by the USDA as Debouillet.

For our purposes, the main thing that makes Debouillet unique is its generous length ranging from 3 to 5 inches. The longer the fiber, the thicker the fiber diameter tends to be, which puts Debouillet on the faintly rougher end of the Merino spectrum. But that also makes it stronger and more durable.

The Yarn

Relying on the long staple to provide a baseline of strength, I had the mill spin this yarn with a relaxed ply twist. When knit with sufficient structure (hence the 6 to 6.5 stitch-per-inch gauge recommendation), those airy fibers relax into a well-wearing, cohesive, somewhat ethereal sheet of softness.

Structually, the yarn’s three-ply construction produces an open stitch face and balanced fabric. It also renders any textured stitchwork—from seed stitch to ribbing and cables—with exquisite three-dimensional clarity. And yet, because of that relaxed ply, the clarity is enhanced by a come-hither bloom.