{"id":3363,"date":"2019-09-14T08:05:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T06:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=3363"},"modified":"2021-03-01T18:59:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T17:59:15","slug":"dalapals-wool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/dalapals-wool\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalap\u00e4ls wool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The breed study is moving on and today I will dive in to the beautiful world of Dalap\u00e4ls wool. This is the third post in my breed study series of Swedish sheep breeds. Previous posts have been about Gotland wool<\/a> and Gute wool<\/a>. Coming up is also my third live webinar in the breed study webinar series!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Saturday, September 21st at 5 pm CET<\/strong> I will host a live breed study webinar on Dalap\u00e4ls wool!<\/strong> I will share my experiences with the wool from a spinner’s perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The webinar has already taken place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you are celebrating World wide spin in public day outdoors or indoors, I hope you take the time to warm up\/wind down (depending on your location in the world) with a wooly breed study webinar! A worldwide live stream is definitely a spin in public event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Dalap\u00e4ls sheep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dalap\u00e4ls sheep is a rare and endangered Swedish conservation breed. A conservation breed means that the breed is protected. If you have a gene bank you are also committed to preserving the breed. This means that you are not allowed to cross the breed with other breeds. You also commit to strive for genetic diversity \u2013 breeding for specific characteristics (like wool or hornedness) is not allowed. In 2018 there were about 160 lambing ewes in 25 flocks of the Dalap\u00e4ls sheep in Sweden according to the Swedish sheep breeders’ association.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"White
Dalap\u00e4ls sheep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The name Dalap\u00e4ls reveals both origin and use. Dala in this case means from the County of Dalarna. P\u00e4ls means fur and indicates that the skins have been used for fur. The traditional jacket Kasung<\/a> was used in areas of Dalarna as a traditional jacket. It was made of leather and had edgings of white wool locks. The locks look very much like Dalap\u00e4ls wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
A traditional Kasung with wool edgings. Image provided by Creative commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wool is usually white. Grey spots can occur. Some lambs are born black but usually turn grey or white as they grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dalap\u00e4ls sheep are quite small, around 30 kg for ewes and 50 kg for rams. They have a strong sense for the flock and are very suspicious of strangers. This may come from the fact that they have been grazing in the woods or in a chalet historically and have developed a strong consciousness of enemies like wolf and bear. Because they are so watchful they are not cuddly sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wool characteristics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dalap\u00e4ls wool is a double-coated wool with strong and shiny outer coat and fine, soft and warm under coat. The most common fiber type is the long and wavy staple. This wool type has little or no crimp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Long,
Extra long and silky locks of different Dalap\u00e4ls sheep.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shorter, wavy and even crimpy staples do occur and the fleece is not even across the body of the sheep. This gives a spinner many choices in spinning the wool. A shepherd or shepherdess can have a small flock of sheep and still get lots of different wool types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wool
One single sheep can have very different wool types. These staples come from the ewe Saga.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some shepherdesses sort the wool according to fiber type and\/or staple length at the shearing stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top three: Shine, fineness and versatility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If I were to pick out three main characteristics of the Dalap\u00e4ls wool it would be shine<\/strong>, fineness<\/strong> and versatility<\/strong>. I asked my friend Lena who is a Dalap\u00e4ls shepherdess and these were her choices too. Another Dalap\u00e4ls shepherdess, Carina, added that Dalap\u00e4ls wool is easy to spin and I agree to that too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n