Hi John, I've spun karakul for weaving into a rug and the longer outer coat adds durability, stability and natural color to the yarn (if the sheep is natural colored.) I think that "dehairing" is actually the wrong term as karakul has a longer, coarser outer coat and a finer under coat. One dehairs cashmere as goats do not grow wool. But if you were separating the coarse outer coat from the softer undercoat of a karakul or icelandic sheep, you are technically not dehairing as you are working with wool. In any case, I have not felted with karakul, but I imagine it felts just fine with the outer coat in place - just probably makes for a rougher piece of felt. The reason you get more saturated color in your yarn or felt when using both the inner and outer coat is that the color is typically stronger in the coarser fiber of both the karakul and icelandic for that matter.
I hope that this helps! Christiane PS: I've also spun karakul lamb and the outer coat was soft enough that the yarn could be used for outer wear [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
