Black Welsh Mountain

Breed Study ♪ spinning

The history

Popular since medieval times, the Black Welsh Mountain sheep is one of the few to produce jet black wool (though, with sun it may become a bit red). Called coch-ddu, there are records of exporting this highly sought after wool as far back as the 1300s. Their wool never grays, even as the sheep becomes old.

According to The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, all Black Welsh Mountain sheep in the US are from 3 sheep brought over in 1972! Since then, the breed has been bolstered, but there are only a few direct lines still in the US.

Remarkably, the Black Welsh Mountain seems to have had a less tumultuous history than the other breeds from this study, so let us enjoy the peace and the pure black wool.

The wool

This is definitely where the Shave Em to Save Em effort shines. I had to email with a rancher to troubleshoot the ecommerce system (hi Oogie!), and received a literal enormous bag of processed and combed wool from a specific sheep. This wool came from Desert Weyr in Colorado, specifically from a ram named Austin. His fleece is naturally jet black.

The crimp is wild! I’ve never spun wool with this structure. The resulting yarn has so much loft, and the resulting swatch is a void-like matte black. It is a sturdy texture, but still promises lots of warmth and puffiness from all the air trapped inside the yarn.