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Hanna the ranunculus top

I finished a top and just loved knitting it. It’s not one of my usual styles, but I do love it and keep my eyes open for similar models. The yarn comes from Hanna the Gestrike sheep, a gold medalist at the Swedish fleece championships of 2024.

I wrote about the fleece and the yarn a couple of weeks ago. The massive fleece (for a Swedish heritage breed) of 2 kilos had different staple types and I divided it into three categories and spun them into the same yarn thickness. That way I can use all three types in the same project and adapt the placing of the yarn. I’ haven’t finished, though, since my mind really needed to knit the top I had decided on. This week I finished it.

Hanna the Gestrike yarn

The yarn ended up very shiny and fits perfectly with the pattern. The uneven spots give extra sparkle to the structure and the pattern is ideal for handspun yarn due to its versatility.

Blocking my Ranunculus top knit in my handspun Gestrike wool.

It was also very comfortable to knit with. And that’s quite important, isn’t it? My Hanna yarn flows comfortably through the fingers and doesn’t split. And I have lots of yarn left and lots of wool left to spin.

A Ranunculus top

The pattern, the Ranunculus by Midori Hirose, is and oversized crop top with a lacey yoke pattern. It is very intelligently made, with lots of tutorials and options. The sizes are based on the chest circumference of the garment, and by choosing your preferred amount of ease you pick the size that gives that ease on your body. I chose the second size, and it didn’t look very oversized, but when I blocked to the measurements, magic happened.

I am smitten with my Ranunculus top and can’t stop looking at it. The pants are my hand sewn in a vintage Chinese handwoven cotton fabric.

Other options offered in the pattern are neckline width and cuff short rows. I chose the smaller neckline and included the short rows for the cuffs, giving them a better fit. The top is knit top-down and is finished at the bottom with a wide 1×1 twist ribbing. The sleeves are bound off with an I-cord.

More ideas

I’m playing with the idea of dyeing the top. Most of my knits are in natural wool colours, but I do have an indigo fermentation bucket underneath my home office desk and I may play with that. I’ll keep you posted.

The Ranunculus is perfect for a bike commuter – it fits neatly in my pannier and is easy to slip on after having slithered out of all that bike ride lycra.

I’m actually thinking about making a second Ranunculus, in the wider neckline and more positive ease, knit in my handspun linen yarn. Perfect for hot summer days when I want to stay cool and out of the sun. I have actually never knit a pattern twice (apart from perhaps a pair of socks or two), but this sweater is well worth a second knit.

Happy spinning!

P.S. My book Listen to the Wool is available for pre-order now! Read more about it (and see a few of the beautiful photos) here.

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main spinning channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing in my online publication Of Words and Wool a couple of times a month. Read more about it here.
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the Wool: A Why-to Guide for Joyful Spinning will be available. You can read more about the book here.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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Substack: Rhythm and wool

Today I write an essay on Substack: Rhythm and wool, where I reflect over spinning and being in the making as tools to cope with illness. This essay comes with a spinning video I think you’ll love.

There’s not much I can do when I get a migraine, everything hurts in one way or another. But I can spin, and do. Being in the wool and in the making soothes and keeps me reasonably balanced.

“Six treadles to charge the rolag with twist, stretching my arm to allow the twist to consume the rolag while I count to another twelve treadles to add twist, then rolling the fresh yarn through the eye of the orifice. For every repeat a pattern is defined – seven peaks creating a perfect sinus wave on the bobbin. This is what I can do when my body decides to fall into an episode, when it fails to trust my ability to keep a balanced lifestyle. The window is small, it appears.“

Read the whole essay here.

My book, Listen to the Wool, will be published on November 4th and is available for pre-order! Amazon (U.S.), Barnes & Noble (U.S.), Waterstones U.K.), Blackwell’s (U.K.) and Libristo (EU). Boken går att bevaka på Akademibokhandeln, Adlibris och Bokus.

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main spinning channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack a couple of times a month. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the Wool: A Why-to Guide for Joyful Spinning will be available.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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Teaching again

I am teaching again this weekend, for the first time since my course A Spindle a Day last summer, and I can’t wait.

Since last summer I have said no to all other engagements, to make space for writing my book, Listen to the Wool (coming this November). I wrote a lot on that course. In fact, a whole chapter in my book is vibrating with energy from that course week. But now, a two-day beginner’s course in suspended spindle spinning for twelve students – a full class.

The venue

The venue is the regional handicraft association, that happens to be only a 20-minute walk from my house, 25 perhaps with a trolley full of course material. The space is inviting and crafty with large shop windows to let the light in. I even get a course host to my assistance on the course! I know this since I spent two weekends there in March and April as a student (more about that in a later post).

Learning styles

When I started teaching back in 2016 I only took intermediate and advanced students. I found it easier to teach students with prior knowledge of techniques and vocabulary. But in recent years I have leveled up and had the confidence to create courses where beginners are welcome. I have collected a vault of experiences with different learning styles and different approaches to techniques. Mind you, there are always new challenges to me in every classroom, and I take the time to find ways to get through to all students.

A student working her suspended spindle.

This is the reason why my in-person courses are never shorter than two days, and never more than twelve students – I want to have enough time to guide every student forward from where they are and from their learning style. I want every student to walk out of the course with more than a little ball of yarn, I want them to have a sense of achievement, of having the making still sizzling in their hands, and mental tools to continue spinning long after the door closes behind them.

Teaching again

I look at the participant list and recognize only one name. I love those first few moments in the classroom, where I can connect names to faces and start the journey of their learning right there, with them, I love watching their aha-moments, their progression from where they started. To make them realize their progression I make them put their hand-carded rolags in a row in front of them. They may not see it from the first to the second rolag, but they will from the first to the fifth. And seeing their faces when they see their progress right in front of them is priceless.

The magic of the rolag progression line. To the right, supported spindle day on A Spindle a Day last summer.

I wonder what fleeces to bring. Perhaps that from Lilla Ääh the Roslag sheep? Or the one from Parisa the Dalapäls sheep, that I shore myself with hand shears? I can’t wait to see my students!

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main spinning channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack a couple of times a month. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the Wool: A Why-to Guide for Joyful Spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

It’s getting closer

In just over six months my book Listen to the Wool – a Why-to Guide for Joyful Spinning will be published. It feels unreal, terrifying and wonderful.

If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can watch a my April 2025 video postcard.

Back in January I got my manuscript back from my acquisitions editor and worked with the changes she suggested for a couple of weeks. After I had returned the slimmed manuscript I got an email from my production editor, who gave me a timeline: The copyedited manuscript would come to me in early April and the proof would come in late May.

A solo writing retreat

So, the second week of April I took the train to a cozy B&B in Varberg on the Swedish west coast for a solo writing retreat to focus on editing. The house was built in 1913 and seems to have kept the original decoration and furnishing. A fascinating place with paintings, furniture and books everywhere. Quite a few of the paintings were of women reading or writing, and in my room one with a woman sewing. I felt very welcomed!

One of the painting in my room at the B&B was of a woman sewing. I can’t make out the signature, though.

I made a strict day-to-day schedule for myself – up at 5.30, practice yoga, edit, have breakfast, go for a bath in the ocean, edit, have a lunch break, and then edit until 3 pm, with some pauses to move between the editing sessions.

Going on a writing retreat like this does so much for the creative flow. There was nothing to bother me, nobody that needed my attention and I could focus all my energy on the book. This was my third writing retreat for this book (and all in all), and it helped me get so much done.

You can read about my previous writing retreats in Falun in April 2024 and in Stockholm in September 2024. Last week I wrote an essay on Substack about this writing retreat.

Playtime

From 3 until dinner I had playtime and usually explored the town or the coast. Of course I went to the fortress, the big landmark of the town, but I also took my rental bike down the coast. Having access to the bike was such a joy. I especially loved going down the coast on the wide and luxurious pedestrian and bike path with not a car in sight. Only the coastal landscape and the big blue sea.

A fortress window sill, seaweed and chocolate cake on the bike, who could ask for more?

There is something about the ocean that touches me deep in my bones. Looking at the horizon with nothing man-made to distract the view, apart from a lighthouse or two. That is what I long for in a place like this, the vastness, the silence and the grandeur of nature. And on some occasions, chocolate cake. All nourishing for the writing soul.

The sea and the sea. There are calm days and days with roaring waves casting seaweed onto the dock.

I had some lovely baths too. A couple of days in a calm sea, and on the last morning a very spirited one. I had to hold tight to the ladder rails not to be thrown into the waves.

A design sample

I also got a design sample of the book from my acquisitions editor, and it is oh, so beautiful! The colours, the fonts and the way the design of the book takes the reader by the hand through the sections really show that the designer had read the manuscript and understood in what spirit I wrote the book. They had also made my husband Dan’s photos even more beautiful than they already were. I can’t wait for you to read it!

The book will go to the printer’s in early August and hopefully be published in November.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main spinning channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack a couple of times a month. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Substack: Trains, teas and retreats

I spent last week on a solo writing retreat to work on my copyeditor’s comments on my manuscript for my book Listen to the Wool. Read the piece on Substack: Trains, teas and retreats – on the joy and wonder of shifting patterns.

It’s my third writing retreat for this book and it gives me the space I need to focus, but also a chance to shift patterns. Like the other times, I came home from this writing retreat a new writer. Today I give you an essay about shifting patterns, of making space for new inspiration and of coming one step closer to a finished book. I hope you love it.

“Only a year ago I didn’t know what a writing retreat was, let alone a solo writing retreat. This is a space where I chisel out my own writing experience from materials I don’t have access to at home – surroundings that need nothing from me, no one to answer to, no garden chairs to let out of their tarp hibernation, just me and my writing and whatever I choose to do when my writing day is over. I write and I dance. Write some more and step barefoot into the garden to greet the grass with my toes.”

The other day I also got a design sample of the book. It was so beautifully and thoughtfully done and I can’t wait for you to see it. Listen to the wool will be published in November 2025.

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main spinning channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack a couple of times a month. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Substack: Ice nests and breakfast in bed

I have a new essay for you today on Substack: Ice nests and breakfast in bed. A few memories of safe spaces in the most unexpected places.

At the last turn Mother Lake spreads out before me in her morning tousledness, unapologetically raw and mischievous. Her winds gushing over my face, roaring, “This is who I am today. Deal with it!”. And I do, no matter how high her waves, how heavy her rains or how thick her icy blanket.

Read the whole piece on Substack.

Next week I will go on a solo writing retreat to the Swedish west coast and dive into my copyedited book manuscript. I will bring spinning and may blog from there.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Hanna the gold medalist

On last year’s Swedish fleece championships I managed to get one of the gold medalist fleeces, from the Gestrike sheep Hanna. She grazes in Claudia’s pastures and I was there at shearing day.

If you are a patron, or want to become one, you can have access to a video postcard where I show you the fleece and what I made of it.

The fleece is shiny and soft and quite variegated. When I picked the fleece I surveilled the staples and divided them into piles of staple length, which quite often also means fineness. I ended up with three piles – 200 grams of fine fibers, 660 grams of medium fibers and 300 grams of stronger fibers.

Raw fleece from Hanna the Gestrike sheep, shorn autumn 2023 and a gold medalist at the 2024 Swedish fleece championships.

A variegated fleece

My plan is to spin the same type of yarn from all three categories – a 2-ply woolen yarn spun from hand carded rolags with English long draw. That way I will have one soft yarn, one medium and one stronger and use all three of them in the same project. I could use the fine yarn at the neck of a sweater where I may be sensitive to itch, the medium for the body and the stronger for elbows and cuffs, that may stand against abrasion better than the medium yarn.

The finished yarn from the medium fine staples of Hanna’s fleece. Picked, teased, hand carded and spun with English long draw into a 2-ply woolen yarn.

Last week I finished the last skein of the medium staples. When all the medium staple wool was spun I had 530 grams and 830 meters. I managed to get the yarn very even in grist across the 13 skeins – ten of them had a grist between 1400 and 1600 meters per kilo and the remaining three not far from that. I am very happy with the result so far.

Three similar yarns from three different staple categories of the same fleece. From the left long and strong, medium and fine fiber staples. I can use these for different parts and for different purposes in the same project.

The tricky part comes next; to spin the other staple categories into similar yarn weight, look and feel. I have not started the fine and the strong categories, but I did do a quick sample collection of the three varieties. I thought I would have to alter the amount of treadles for gathering and adding twist, but all the variants worked with the treadle combination I had used for the medium staples.

Squishy centerpull balls

And oh, I tried a new technique to hand wind my centerpull balls. Usually I wind them around my thumb (like you would with a nostepinne, only without the nostepinne), but a student of mine taught me to make squishy ones, and that requires a nostepinne. When you wind the yarn, you make sure to add a finger or three around the ball, so they are wound into the ball, After a few rounds in the same spot, you slide the fingers out, turn the ball and take a new grip. That way the yarn is loosely wound onto the ball, which makes it airy and less pulling on the yarn.

A sweet and squishy hand wound center pull ball and a wee swatch, what more could you ask for?

The balls are fun to make and I love how smoothly the yarn comes out of the center. They are also pretty, don’t you think?

When projects come running

My plan was to spin all the categories before I started a project, but I willingly admit I utterly failed. My mind needed to knit, and so I cast on for a sweater. I am pretty sure I will have yarn left for another project to use with the other categories.

Midori Hirose’s Ranunculus is a fun and quick knit with lots of opportunities to play and adapt the pattern to your needs.

The sweater I cast on for was Midori Hirose’s Ranunculus, an oversized top with a patterned yoke. The thing with this pattern is that it is designed for a range of yarn weights and has instructions for different amounts of oversizedness (yes, it’s a word). In my book this is perfect for handspun yarn. The instructions are very clear and there are links to a range of techniques that are used in the pattern.

The laced and patterned yoke is very playful – while it seems like just random holes to pick up new stitches from, I realize this pattern was designed by someone extremely skilled in their craft. This sweater is such a joy to knit! I am already planning for another one, in linen for the summer, perhaps with a wider neckline and more width in the torso. It would result in the loveliest drape. I just need to spin the yarn first.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

New short lecture: Comb your wool

I have a new short lecture: Comb your wool – align for strength and shine. It’s a 40-minute pre-recorded video where i share my thoughts on combing wool.

Buy Comb your wool here!

I love combing wool; to align the fibers and draft out a long top, roll into a bird’s nest and spin worsted from. Through the years I have found a way to comb that is easeful and meditative, a dance with the wool between the combs. In this video I share my thoughts on combing and how I do it, and hope it is easeful for you too.

Course outline

The lecture is 40 minutes, but I have divided it into six sections for easy access to the parts of the lecture. I go through why I comb and what types of wool I comb. The main part of the lecture covers how I comb, divided into three stages of the process.

All the videos have keywords for your convenience. A couple of them have close-ups.

All the videos have on-screen key words and a summary in the text below each video. The key words are also helpful if you want to scroll back and forth and find a specific section in the videos. The lecture is in spoken English, with captions in English.

I comb long locks of Swedish Leicester wool with my mini combs.

More courses

You can find more courses, challenges and short lectures in my online school. Three of the short lectures already published are on the topic of wool preparation: Picking the fleece and teasing the wool and carding the teased preparation.

I hope you love Comb your wool!

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
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Soothing wool

Sometimes everything seems to happen at the same time, and there is little energy left to breathe. The state of the world, a long period of stress at work and aging parents all add up to tension. Having soothing wool go through my hands is one thing that keeps me on track.

I have been working on and off with a fleece for a few months now. A beautiful Gestrike fleece shorn last autumn. Recently I found my way back to it after quite a long break.

Hanna the Gestrike sheep

The fleece is soft and airy and soothing to work with. I’m working on it from several angles at once – in one end I card a bobbinful of rolags, spin two bobbins and ply them. In another I tease a different part of the fleece to card when the first part is all spun up. Meanwhile, I listen to audiobooks. I just finished Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and started Holly Ringland’s The lost flowers of Alice Hart. My plan is to spin the same yarn weight, but divided into three categories of fine and crimpy, medium and long and strong. This way I can use the different qualities in different parts of a knitted sweater.

Hanna the Gestrike sheep got a gold medal in the 2024 fleece championships

I got the fleece from last year’s Swedish fleece championships. I know the sheep farmer and trust her completely when it comes to the wool from her sheep. The fleece got a gold medal.

Luggtacka the Roslag sheep

This year’s fleece championships took place just a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t there, but I did follow the prize ceremony online and the auction that followed it. Another sheep owner Dan and I had visited for photo shoots last year got medals for two of her fleeces and I won the auctions for both of them. Luggtacka the pitch black Roslag sheep got the award called The Wool Guru’s Temptation. This fleece was a temptation indeed – wool so open and soft that the 700 grams worth of wool had the volume of a 2 kg fleece.

Luggtacka (meaning bangs ewe) got the Wool Guru’s temptation award in the 2025 fleece championships. The fleece may look grey in the picture but I can assure you it is pitch black.

The colour is a challenge for me, I find it very difficult to spin black fleece, but with some dedication and a contrasting background can make it work. I’m thinking about spinning a knitting yarn for stranded colourwork, perhaps for a knit sleeve bodice.

Lappen the Brännö sheep

Another fleece from the same sheep farm was Lappen the white Brännö lamb. The fleece is heavenly soft and open. The sheep farmer lives in an island in an archipelago northeast of Stockholm and the sheep graze in a few different islands with the farmer taking them between the islands in her small boat. Sometimes the sheep go on swimming adventures of their own. The fleece got a gold medal in her category and the highest possible marks for wool care.

Lappen the Brännö lamb got a gold medal in the 2025 fleece championships.

I knew I needed to win the auctions for both Luggtacka and Lappen, since I know the farmer and the care and dedication she puts into her sheep. You can read more about Dan’s and my visit to the sheep farm here.

Svea the Värmland sheep

The third fleece I bought at this year’s auction came from Svea the Värmland sheep and is also very soft and silky. I picked Svea’s 1 kg fleece in just a couple of nights – it was so open and airy my hands just danced the staples apart.

Svea the Värmland fleece got a gold medal in the 2025 fleece championships.

Just as Lappen, Svea got the highest possible marks for wool care. I’m thinking knitting yarn for this fleece too. The

Soothing wool

Spinning, carding and teasing all have their own choreography and rhythm and it seems to be just what I need at the moment – the single voice of the narrator and the dance of tools and hands in a set rhythm. Wood and wool through my hands. The soothing smell of lanolin and the genuine kindness I sense in the fibers. Greetings from pasture and barn fall into my lap. As the fibers open before me I’m taken back to the sheep that grew and wore the wool. I am so grateful for getting to know so dedicated sheep owners. Their kindness and the soothing wool bring me so much joy and trust in the goodness of people.

P.S. My book Listen to the Wool is scheduled for publishing in November.

Happy spinning!

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In November 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.
Posted on

Substack: Spider silk

Today I take you to the forest for another essay on Substack: Spider silk, where a shopping list invites you in between Water Stride’s pool and Hazel’s spring shoots.

“After having gulped down the last of the morning dew I threaded a basket onto my tail, placed the shopping list underneath my acorn hat and scurried along the path downforest.”

Read the whole piece here.

My life is a bit chaotic at the moment with a crazy work situation and an ill father. I don’t have the energy I would like, and the blog posts are sparse. I ask for your patience.

You can find me in several social media:

  • This blog is my main channel. This is where I write weekly posts, mainly about spinning. Do subscribe!
  • I share essay-style writing on Substack. Come and have a look!
  • I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for joyful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
  • My youtube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
  • I have a facebook page where I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
  • I run an online spinning school, welcome to join a course! You can also check out my course page for courses in Sweden or to book me for a lecture.
  • On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons are an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
  • Follow me on Instagram.  I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
  • Read the book Knit (spin) Sweden! by Sara Wolf. I am a co-author and write in the fleece section about how I spin yarn from Swedish sheep breeds.
  • In all the social media I offer, you are more than welcome to contact me. Interacting with you helps me make better content. My private Facebook page, however, will remain private.
  • I support Centro de textiles tradicionales del Cusco, a group of talented textile artists in Cusco, Peru who dedicate their work to the empowerment of weavers through the revitalization and sustainable practice of Peruvian ancestral textiles in the Cusco region. Please consider supporting their work by donating to their causes.