Fjällnäs wool

Fjällnäs sheep is a heritage and conservation breed in Sweden and one of our rarest breeds. This is my twelfth breed study. Previous breed studies have been about Gotland wool, Gute wool, Dalapäls wool, Värmland wool, Jämtland wool, finull wool, rya wool, Klövsjö wool, Åsen wool, Gestrike wool and Åland wool.

Fjällnäs sheep

Fjällnäs sheep is one of the 11 (the eleventh established in the autumn of 2023) conservation and heritage breeds in Sweden. It is the smallest, both in size and in number. According to the statistics of 2022 there were 40 breeding ewes in 8 flocks in Sweden. The rams weigh 30–50 kilos and the ewes 30–40 kilos. For reference a merino ram can weigh up to 100 kilos.

The flock that was the original for the gene bank comes from the northernmost part of Sweden. Traditionally the Fjällnäs sheep have tended themselves on the mountains during spring and summer. In the autumn they were gathered to graze the regrowth of the newly harvested hay.

Just like Dalapäls sheep, the fjällnäs sheep have a strong sense for the flock and are suspicious of strangers. When they graze there are always a couple of individuals that are on the guard, looking out for danger. Tending to themselves during the summer months has made the breed very sturdy.

On the fjällnäs sheep website you can see pictures of the sheep and their lustrous wool.

Wool characteristics

Fjällnäs wool is usually white with a soft yellow tone or with black or grey spots. Some lambs are born fawn but fade to a light copper with age. The wool is quite similar to rya wool – a dual coat with long and very shiny outercoat fibers and plenty of soft and lustrous undercoat.

The sturdy wool has been used for mittens, socks, sweaters and warm undergarments that have been needed in the daily lives with forestry, reindeer husbandry and as protection against the cold winter in the northernmost part of Sweden. The wool was also used for fulling, for both the majority population and for the Sami. Research has shown that over 100 year old Sami sewn sheepskins are identical to the modern Fjällnäs skins in texture and colour.

Cixi the 4H bronze medalist

The Fjällnäs fleece I got is a bronze medalist from the 2021 Swedish fleece championships. The ewe, Cixi, comes from a 4H farm (the oldest in Sweden) in the northernmost part of Sweden, where the sheep have lived traditionally. She was their first lamb born in the gene bank. Due to the small amount of Fjällnäs sheep it took the farm a few years to find a ram that was genetically suitable. She was born reddish and now has a light red tint to her fleece.

Cixi’s wool

The first thing I notice as I start picking the fleece of Cixi is its tendency to fall apart. You know that softly woven carpet of staples you get with some fleeces? This is totally the opposite. The staples are very loosely placed next to each other, making picking very easy. The staples are soft, silky and very fine. The rareness of this breed makes me want to make something very special with the fleece and resulting yarn, using it as wisely as I possibly can.

To guide me in how to make this particular wool shine I like to pick out three main characteristics. I only have this one 200 gram fleece and the characteristics will inevitably be unique to it. The characteristics I choose for Cixi’s Fjällnäs wool are

• The shine, oh, the shine. This is such a lustrous fleece and I can’t stop looking at it.
• The strong character. Yes, this wool has a will of its own. Very kind in its appearance, but quite strong minded in the draft.
• The colour, a warm vanilla with a whiff of red.

Prepare

This is such a small fleece and despite the wide variety of length and character in the staples, I decide to work with the fleece as a whole and not separate it. The combination of long, strong and shiny outercoat fibers and soft and fine undercoat fibers steer me to carding rolags and spinning a woolen 2-ply yarn.

After picking I teased the wool with combs. The wool was very open and easy to tease. Carding was a joy, with the openness of the fibers and the delightful blend of outercoat and undercoat fibers. The soft undercoat making up the volume in the rolags and the long, strong and shiny outercoat fibers to armour the rolag and keeping it together is a match made in heaven.

Spin

I love to spin rolags like these with an English longdraw. Gathering twist, making the draft, keeping the twist live in the point of twist engagement, and then add the final twist when I am happy with the thickness and evenness. A rhythm and a dance that makes my heart sing.

The first skein I spun was a bit of a struggle, though. The yarn broke as I spun it and I overspun a lot of it. The plied yarn was wonky with sections of phone cable. For the second skein I listened more to the live fibers in the point of twist engagement and managed to understand how the fibers worked. The skein turned out beautifully, as did the third. And then I was out of fluff.

Use

So, I have my three skeins. It’s not much, but I want to do something special with them. Perhaps a pair of mittens or wrist warmers. A hat or a detail of something larger, or stripes together with another yarn in the same fashion.

Just like most of the Swedish conservation breeds, Fjällnäs wool is very versatile with its dual coat. With more wool than the 200 grams I had I could separate the fiber types and prepare and spin them differently for different projects – strong warp yarns with the outercoat fibers, soft next to skin yarns with the undercoat, and sweaters, mittens, hats, shawls and socks with the fiber types together or semi-separated. The opportunities are endless.

Happy spinning!

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