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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I’m sitting on a of meditation pillow on the floor, picking a Gute lamb’s fleece while listening to a livestream with my favourite writing inspiration Beth Kempton. Two bags are on the floor; one is filled with bundled sections of wool, staples holding on to each other at the cut ends, the other with an airy mass of newly picked individual locks, light and considerably softer. A pile on the floor with mostly kemp and felted parts.
The gifts of a primitive breed
The breed is not new to me, I know its challenges, or perhaps my challenges with it, but I also know its gifts. All the things I learn from exploring it, from handling a primitive breed.
A Gute ram lamb, not related to the one in this post.
A fleece from a Gute sheep can have coarse outercoat together with the finest undercoat. It also most probably has kemp, those short, rough and quirky fibers that usually break and fall out. They may seem undesirable to us, but they have a purpose for the sheep; to keep the staples open to bring in air for warmth, and upright to keep moisture out.
An unseparated staple in the center. To the right a flicked staple and to the right all the kemp that came out from the flicking.
The combination of fiber types is intriguing and my fingers keep pondering, wandering across the fleece. This lamb’s fleece has very fine outercoat, though, not yet fully formed into the rough structure it can have as an adult. Still, a fleece like this brings me closer to how the fleece on the original sheep was constructed; fine undercoat and coarse hair, albeit in slightly different proportions. The fleece grows to protect the sheep and I get to learn from it.
Pondering hands
I ponder with my hands across the fleece, systematically picking staple by staple. My fingers search for tip ends, curly, fine and silky. The cut ends have compacted slightly and I need to work to make them loosen their grip. Fiddly, but doable, and some of the kemp – located at the bottom of the staples – is separated from the other fibers in the process. I know that more kemp will fall out and result in a soft yield after my picking.
This Gute lamb’s fleece has lots of kemp, but also the finest undercoat you can imagine. In the loupe image you can see black kemp as well as fine and medium fibers that are probably undercoat and outercoat.
Another gift from handling fleece from a primitive breed like the Gute sheep is that I know I will find gold, one way or another The colours, the fineness and the silky shine. What may look like a rough and bristly fleece is indeed a rough fleece, but it does in also have great potential. It could be turned into a rug, upholstery, a fulled fabric or sturdy socks. But with the fine undercoat and not yet adult outercoat in this fleece I could also make something very soft. A lace shawl perhaps. Yes, this prickly-looking fleece could actually be wrapped around my shoulders in an openwork pattern, flaunting the beauty in the simple fibers.
Further exploration
I tease a few locks and am astonished at how easily the kemp separates from the rest of the fibers. What remains in front of me are silky soft and remarkably fine fibers.
Teased and unteased to the left, spinning in the center and a laceweight yarn to the right.
Look at the picture with three sections of wool in The gifts of a primitive breed above. In the center you see a whole staple. The light wool to the right is a similar staple that I have teased with a few strokes with a flicker. Almost all of the kemp is gone. You can see the flicked out black and white kemp to the left of the whole staple.
I carded the teased wool and spun it on a 9 gram double cross (Turkish style) spindle into a laceweight yarn. There is definitely kemp left in the yarn, but given how much has fallen out already, I trust the remaining kemp will fall out eventually. And if it doesn’t I will be humbly reminded of the fleece as a protection for a living being, that I am grateful to learn from.
This and other things is what my fingers reflect over as they walk their way through the hills and valleys of Gute lamb’s fleece number 8 on a Thursday morning, and later ponder further on the page, writing the experience down, joyfully.
What do your hands ponder about when they walk through a fleece?
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 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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
A Swedish Gute fleece shorn after wind and rain call to me and I add it to my fleece stash, filling it with stories to knit into the loops of the yarn I spin. Read the whole essay on Substack: The wind in the wool.
When I release the fleece from its paper prison it poofs up as if taking the biggest breath after having held it for days. It keeps inhaling, slowly, until the mass is relaxed, staples quietly reaching, whisker-like.
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.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
Many of the fleeces I buy come from sheep with stories, and it is these fleeces that bring that extra depth to whatever I make from it. Today I share some of those stories.
Pia-Lotta I, II and III
The first fleece I got was at a city farm where I took my very first spinning lesson. I got a box in my lap, filled to the brim with small and crimpy staples. The name Pia-Lotta was written on the side. Pia-lotta was a Swedish finull lamb, just relieved of her wooly fleece and skipping about outside the barn where we sat.
On a course in small-scale sheep farming back in 2015 I got to shear Pia-Lotta the Finull sheep. One of the things I made of her fleece was a Shift of focus sweater by Veera Välimäki.
Pia-Lotta wasn’t supposed to live beyond the summer, though. She wasn’t one of the lucky ones that would be allowed to stay at the farm. But just as a large van was coming to take her and her friends to slaughter, the sheep farmer changed her mind. The much loved ram who had fathered her had been bullied to death by some local children, and Pia-Lotta looked so much like him that the sheep farmer couldn’t bear losing her too. From that first fleece and a few more of hers after that I spun yarn for a couple of sweaters, a pair of mittens, an array of hats and a Fair Isle vest. Since then, Finull wool always makes my heart tingle and sprinkle memories from my first years of spinning.
Gunvor, queen of stripes
I asked a sheep farming friend of mine, Claudia, if I could buy fleeces from one of her Gestrike sheep over a few of years to see how the wool changed over time. Claudia picked out Gunvor, a lamb born white with large black spots. I got her first and second shearings. I used them both in the same project – a pair of pants with black and white stripes. The pants have been traditional in the Moroccan High Atlas, and Irene Waggener has adapted the orally transferred description for a western audience in her book Keepers of the Sheep. Women spun the wool on traditional spindles and their husbands, usually shepherds, knit the pants.
Gunvor the Gestrike ewe who was my longitudinal fleece study sheep. The life through her first two shearings shows in the fading stripes of my pants.
I used a Navajo style floor spindle to spin and ply the bulky yarn.The black spots in Gunvor’s fleece had faded some in the second shearing, something that is common with the breed. I placed the black stripes in a gradient with black at the bottom and lighter up the legs.
Unfortunately, Gunvor got two diseases that were painful for her and not advisable to breed on, so she had to be taken away. Her life as well as my project was cut short. But afterwards I realized that I did get a study of the changing of the wool over time after all, in the way I had placed the stripes in the pants. I wear them in the winter when I go down to the lake to take an ice bath, smiling all the way in my warm and wooly stripes.
Härvor full of cuddles
Härvor is also a sheep in Claudia’s flock. I met her a year ago when I first came for a photo shoot for my book and a few days later helped Claudia on shearing day. Härvor has the loveliest, rustic grey fleece, quite typical for the breed with conical staples with airy and warm undercoat and long and strong outercoat.
The Gestrike sheep Härvor is the cuddliest sheep. One skein of Härvor’s yarn (here together with yarn from the white Doris in the same flock) is part of a secret project.
Härvor is the cuddliest sheep. She was a bit sceptical at first, but then she kept coming to me, poking me until I placed my arms around her neck. How could I then not smuggle her fleece back home? I have spun one skein as part of a secret project.
Lotta and the red barn door
Last autumn I taught a beginner’s class in suspended spindle spinning in Uppsala, just north of Stockholm. One of the students, Åsa, has a flock of Svärdsjö sheep and on day two of the course she brought a couple of bags of fleece from her girls. Svärdsjö wool is usually white with fine and glittering wool in curly staples that sometimes curl back on themselves like ringlets. One fleece, though, stood out. The Svärdsjö glitter was there, but the staples were open and airy and had quite long outercoat fibers. Lotta was the name of the sheep. On a few places the wool was red since Lotta had a favourite barn door she liked to scratch her side against.
The glittering (and occasionally reddish) locks of Lotta’s fleece are becomingyarn for a Danish night sweater with its typical stitch and star pattern.
I bought the 1200 grams of wool and spent several hours picking it while I listened to an audiobook by Valérie Perrin. I spun it into a soft and fine 2-ply yarn for a Danish night sweater. As I approached the middle of the torso I realized I wouldn’t have enough yarn. I contacted Åsa and she sent me 300 grams from this year’s shearing of Lotta’s fleece. There were no red stains in this batch. However, Lotta seems to have scratched against the ground instead – I found of dark granules between the fibers. Luckily the fleece is quite open and a lot of the vegetable matter fell out as I picked the fleece while listening to Jane Eyre. The rest will fall out during teasing and carding.
Frida in my arms
I met Frida in April when I helped my friend Lena on shearing day. Lena shears her flock of Dalapäls sheep with hand shears and I was happy to help while my husband Dan took photos for the book. I started with Parisa, two years old and with very long and airy staples. Since it was so late in the spring, the lanolin was thick and waxy and a struggle to shear. On day two I turned to eleven year old Frida, Lena’s oldest sheep, whose fleece was a lot finer and airier and easier to work with.
From shearing through spinning and dyeing with Frida the 11-year-old Dalapäls sheep.
Dalapäls sheep is a forest breed with a distinctive flock mentality. They pay close attention to potential predators, as they should – this flock lives on wolf territory. I wouldn’t be able to come close to any of Lena’s Dalapäls sheep. But on shearing day Lena drives them into the narrow shearing pen where they have no way to go and I get to lean my body against the sheep I am shearing, feeling her warmth and her sheepiness.
A few months later I met my walking wheel for the first time. In my basket I had fourty-nine glittering rolags of Frida’s wool ready for a dance with the wheel. And we waltzed and twirled until the basket was empty. As a final step I dyed the skein with my homegrown fresh indigo leaves.
Tvaga of the Baltic sea
On yet another photo shoot visit to a sheep farm I met Tvaga the Brännö sheep. Dan and I visited Louise who lives in an archipelago a couple of hours north of Stockholm. Louise picked us up in her boat and took us to three different island where some of her sheep were grazing. On the final island, where Louise lives, I met Tvaga, a lamb. Or, I should perhaps say I saw her, she was too shy to answer my invitations. But I watched her sweet lamb locks in a gradient from white to almost black and knew I wanted to explore it. I asked Louise if she could spare it and before I knew it I got Tvaga’s fleece in the mail.
The staples from Tvaga the Brännö sheep comes in a range of colours, lengths and crimps.
As I picked the fleece, probably to the Jane Eyre audiobook too, I found not only different shades of grey, but a range of both lenght and crimp. I could have divided the fleece in numerous categories. However, the fleece was only 850 grams and I settled for three colour categories – white, light grey and medium grey. Perhaps there won’t be much difference between the greys and I might settle for only two categories.
Sheep with stories
All these stories add depth and dimensions to the spinning experience. Having met the sheep, walked its pastures or heard the sheep owned tell stories about the character of an individual gives the fleece life and an added value that is, in fact, invaluable. By having the fibers and the stories go through my hands I feel rich. The wool becomes so much more than just a material. It is a partner in craft and a song in my heart.
Happy spinning!
You can find me in seveal 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!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
During the past year Dan and I have visited sheep owners to take photos of Swedish sheep breeds for my book, Listen to the Wool. Today I invite you into the forest for a photo shoot of a forest breed, Åsen sheep.
Dan and I go to see Milis and her 24 Åsen sheep. The breed used to be bundled with Gestrike, Helsinge, Värmland and Svärdsjö sheep as skogsfår, forest sheep, but since the end of the 20th century they are all considered individual breeds.
Into the forest we go
Milis keeps half of her Åsen flock in the forest a ten minute drive from her house. The forest belongs to Per who wants it grazed. When we get there we are struck by the openness of the forest – the understory and the forest floor are light and airy and the light magical.
Per takes the lead with a bucket full of bribes as we walk along paths the sheep have paved through the vegetation. Silently, as not to scare the sheep who become nearly wild during the summer, we wade through waist high fern and duck under hazel branches.
The Åsen sheep stand patiently while Dan gets some lovely photos of them.
After ten minutes into the forest we come to a hill with a collection of stones, rounder than the ones we have passed on the way and in all shades of grey. Curious black heads rise from between them, and we realize the stones are the sheep themselves. They see Per and know it means treats, but they also see Dan and stay, linger. Dan is used to lingering sheep by now and has his telephoto lens ready. They flaunt their clean and shiny fleeces and Dan gets beautiful shots despite the distance. When he has what he needs Per offers his bribes to the flock and they tumble around the bucket, toss it into the air and empty it in seconds. We walk back in silence, all I can hear is my heart tingling.
For the love of wool
Milis has decades of experience as a spinner and bought her sheep 24 years ago for the sake of their wool. She documents the wool meticulously and uses it all herself, mostly for weaving. That means the fleeces of 24 sheep twice a year. We talk about the treasure that her wool is, about all the work that is put into its quality. Milis and her husband have changed the way they feed the sheep during the winter, to keep the food out of the fleeces. When I look at the wall of baskets full of wool I see no sign of vegetation matter in the flora of greys. All I can see is the treasure her wool is and the love, skill and dedication she has put into it.
Singing the song of wool
Just as the other Swedish heritage breeds, wool from Åsen sheep can be very versatile, between flocks and individuals as well as over the body of the same sheep. The quality also differs between seasons and years. Usually they grow quite a lot of undercoat during the winter to keep the body warm. At the same time, the wool can be of lower quality due to pregnancies, but this year the sheep haven’t been served by the ram and all the nutrients have gone to the sheep themselves. This year’s spring shearing is spectacular with its abundance of airy undercoat, glistening with lanolin.
Raw sampels from four of Milis’ spring shorn Åsen sheep. She says these have a lot more undercoat than the autumn shorn wool.
I get to take samples from four fleeces and I treasure them like diamonds. As I write this piece, the sheepy smell fills the room and my heart with a song that only a spinner can hear.
Tack Milis!
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!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
I spend a weekend at Lena’s place, helping her shear her Dalapäls sheep while Dan skips around taking photos for my upcoming book Listen to the wool. I shear Parisa, Orkidé and Frida and learn from the wool producers themselves.
Dan and I drive an hour or so south to Lena, an experienced spinner, and her ten Dalapäls ewes. Usually she shears them a lot earlier, perhaps in early March, a few weeks before lambing. This year, though, the sheep are not in gestation, for the first time since she got them 18 years ago. Therefore there is no rush in getting them shorn.
Shearing prep
Since Lena got the sheep she has most of the time shorn them herself twice a year with hand shears. She has never owned a shearing table. Instead, she has simply placed the sheep in her lap and started shearing where she could and in no particular order. This time, though, she has borrowed two home-made shearing tables and is super excited. We place them facing each other in the middle of the narrow shearing pen. They have a remarkable resemblance to sheep.
The shearing tables that look like sheep. We’re all set for bringing out the flock.
We bring out the newly sharpened shears, boxes for spinning wool and garden wool respectively, pens to mark the boxes with the sheep’s names, all sorts of bribes, and fence in the narrow shearing pen. All the while Dan sharpens his lenses, ready to portray the flock.
A to Q
When Lena got the sheep she gave them names beginning with the letter A, and every year the names of the lambs begin with the next letter of the alphabet. Usually visiting children get to name them. Her oldest sheep now is Ester and the youngest Quinoa. Before Lena lets the sheep out from the shed I peak inside and meet Quinoa’s curious-cautious eyes.
Quinoa peaks out from the sheep shed before we let them out to the shearing pen.
Lena herds the flock from the shed, through the larger pen and into the narrow pen. After a few minutes of sizzling and bleating, the sheep quieten and all we can hear is soft chewing. Lena shears Ester’s fine fleece while I work on the considerably younger Parisa, only 2 years old. The names come from two of Lena’s grandchildren. Since the sheep have had access to silage in a trough indoors during the winter, there is a lot of hay in their locks and we start by brushing the fleeces to remove some of it. The rhythmic motions seem to have a calming effect on the girls.
I shear
I have tried shearing twice before. The first time on a course in small-scale sheep farming back in 2014 (where it took three people three hours to shear one sheep). The second time was with Lena five years later, with her signature lap technique. I started, but after a while the sheep slithered away from my inexperienced grip. Lena caught her and had no trouble shearing two sheep in her lap.
Now, another five years later I am not sure whether I am any help to Lena or actually a burden. But even if my shearing skills need some sharpening, I know I can assist her where she needs an extra pair of hands.
After a while I find a technique that works for me. In the upper right corner you can see how the fleece is denser toward the spine. Photo by Dan Waltin.
Parisa ruminates calmly as I place the shears with a trembling hand across her back. The rest of the sheep huddle together and mind their own business. Quinoa gently nibbles at the pull tab on my my leg pocket zipper.
The beginning is tricky; I need to find a spot along the spine where I can insert the tips of the shears in the dense fleece and open sort of a path from back to front. Once I have that it’s easier to follow and broaden. I fiddle, but after a while I find a method that works. Parisa is warm and and calm under my hands, and helps me find my confidence and work on my skills to make both her and the shorn fleece pretty. The lanolin glistens in the spring sun and my skin enjoys the moisturizing.
In the living room
Here I am, belly to belly with the sheep who has produced this magnificent wool as a shield against the elements, and it is my duty and privilege to free her of it. I won’t get any closer to the wool than this. I am in Parisa’s living room, exploring her habits through what I find – what seeds and plants are common in her pasture, what’s on the menu in her silage and what side she likes to sleep on. It’s all there.
Typical staples from Frida (left) and Parisa (right).
What’s more, I get to experience the wool right on her back. I learn how the wool behaves and what wool quality grows where on her body, while she is breathing and chewing right underneath my hands. I go through every fiber with the shears, transforming them from her shield to a product for me. In return for this invaluable gift I have the responsibility to translate it into a shield for me, into the best yarn I can possibly make from the superpowers of this magnificent wool.
I soak in everything I learn from Parisa’s wool as I shear. Photo by Dan Waltin
As I slowly shear my way through the layers of wool I find and remove larger pieces of vegetation matter, poo and my own second cuts. The wool I place in the bag is wonderfully clean and airy, the wool I remove will serve as fertilizer and soil improvement for my garden beds. For every inch I shear I learn something new. I welcome and cherish what Parisa has to teach me through her wool, right there in her living room.
Follow the curves
I do quite well over the back and down across the sides in sort of a saddle shape. But all of a sudden, the belly curves and I find myself shearing further and further from the skin. The thick fleece does nothing to help me understand the shape of the body and I need to change the angle and rethink my path for every layer I shear. Even further down the belly the skin is looser and the risk of breaking it is higher.
A newly shorn Parisa.
Shearing truly takes concentration. Concave shapes around the leg insertions make me sweat and I shear smaller and smaller amounts with longer and longer pauses to breathe and assess where to go next. Parisa is approaching the height of her fleece denseness age (which I have leaned is around 3–4 years of age), but it turns out that her fleece gets even more challenging to penetrate; towards the belly the wool suddenly becomes considerably thicker and greasier, and I find it hard to even find a spot to insert the shears. Lena comes to my rescue and does the most difficult parts – belly, crotch, udders and neck.
As we finally open the neck holder and Parisa skips down on the ground, her flock sisters curiously sniff the assumed newcomer and start butting her. She is soon followed by Ester and the butting ceases slightly.
Spring and autumn shearing
We have a nourishing soup lunch in the afternoon sun and get back to work with another couple of sheep – Lena shears Nehne (whose autumn fleece I bought a couple of years ago to finish my two-end knitted jacket sleeves) and I Orkidé (Swedish for orchid). Her wool is even longer and a little more tricky to shear than Parisa’s, but I have a better technique now and my confidence is heightened.
Usually spring shorn wool has a lower quality than the autumn shorn wool. This has to do with the cold that results in more lanolin, indoor feeding, which can end up in the fleece, and gestation, where the fetuses can take lots of the nutrients. Since these ladies aren’t in gestation this year, the wool has an even quality over the length of the staples, be it a little greasier and with a little more vegetation matter. Lena reminds herself to buy silage without timothy next winter; we find lots of the miniature cigarrs that, tangled in a fleece, are ticking seed bombs.
Bad time for shearing
Both Parisa and Orkidé have patches of extremely dense wool, especially under the belly and along the spine, that Lena has never experienced before with her sheep. She asks around in social media and understands that April and May are the worst months for shearing sheep – this is peak lanolin time, while June is a month where the greasiest outgrowth has grown past the skin and left less greasy outgrowth underneath, according to some of the replies. Rumour has it that shearing in June works like butter.
I work faster and more efficient as I shear Orkidé. Still, she has denser fleece and I need Lena’s help towards the belly, crotch and neck.
I give up on Orkidé way sooner than I did with Parisa – the lower side and belly wool is impossible to penetrate and I ask Lena to take over. She is of course way more experienced than I, and I assume the sheep feel safer with her fiddling with scissors at their crotches than a complete stranger and hopeless beginner. This doesn’t mean I can’t help, though – while Lena gives Orkidé a well needed pedicure I drape myself softly over the freshly shorn back like a weighted blanket. She calms down and I can feel her belly rumble against mine.
When Orkidé finally skips down from the table, shorn and trimmed, tiredness hits me in the head with a hammer. I realize I have focused deeply snip by snip for 2 x 2 hours.
Predators
Dalapäls sheep have traditionally grazed in the forest. For this reason they have a strong sense of the flock and are watchful for predators. We are in fact in wolf territory, and since a couple of years Lena brings her flock indoors every night. Her chicken coop next to the sheep pen is empty – all the chickens were taken a couple of years ago by what Lena believes to have been a ferret.
The flock instinct becomes very clear on the second day when we let them out from their shed. The aim is to drive them through the larger pen into the narrower shearing pen. The flock rushes out into the larger pen, but refuses to go into the shearing pen. They circle like a school of fish, constantly huddling fleece to fleece. Lena places me (the assumed preadator) in one corner of the larger pen while she herds them towards the other end and the entrance to the shearing pen.
Mud, grease and manure
After about ten minutes she succeeds and we can close the gate and scooch the next sheep onto the table. We choose Frida, who is old and has quite fine fleece that is considerably easier to shear than the fleeces of the two younger ewes I worked with the day before. We work together from the start this time – Lena with the hardcore spots and I on the breezy back and sides.
Lena’s skilled hands work swiftly across Frida’s body.
I’m tired today, my brain has worked overtime and processed all through the night. The rain makes my lanoliny hands slippery, the photos I take are all blurry through greasy lenses. But Frida’s fine fleece is so much easier to get through, though, and Lena and I have found a way to work together with a mutual understanding of what needs to be done and where. Frida is old and has more concave parts and loose skin. I need to find ways through the hollows and take extra care not to cut through her skin. As Lena does the hoof service with her rose snips, I once again drape myself over the warm sheep back. Lena decides to hold the shearing for the remaining five sheep a few weeks to see if it works better in June.
When Dan and I go back home we have two bags of manure in the trunk, beside a bag of poopy wool and two bags of spinning wool. Not many people would know what a treasure that is. A wave of gratitude rushes through me, for all I have learned from both two- and four-legged friends.
Tack, Lena!
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. So subscribe!
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
Three fleeces crawled out of their paperbags that had been strewn out in the corners of the living room for quite a while, pinned me down on the couch and hijacked my blog. This is what they wrote.
Doris the Gestrike sheep
I’m Doris the gestrike sheep. Feel my soft staples, they are not your regular gestrike fleece. No, my staples are curly-wurly-crimpy, they shine like the inner sky of a seashell, softly, kindly, with a twirl right at the tip end. I have skipped about in the pastures, brushing sweetly against the grass in the late autumn sun until shearing day.
I’m Doris the gestrike sheep and I truly enjoy getting picked. Reply to Wicked Rolags!
Pick me, pick my staples, mindfully, and you will feel my glide, my length and my give. Yes, I will give – give you the sweetest rolags once you shape my fibers into spinnable rolls of heaven. Pick me and you will learn my secrets, see what I can do, how I work in movement, in stillness. Close your eyes and feel who I am, follow my lead, search for my deepest secrets and I will guide you along the way. Listen, listen to my whispers and go with my flow. When I have your attention, when you feel my most subtle vibe, you will know how to make me sparkle and reflect that seashell shine.
Glorious gute
I’m the gute glory! It took me two weeks to get here, I was bundled up and rolled into a paper bag with meter after meter of transparent tape rolled around me. It really itched! I looked like a yarn ball, and nobody paid me any attention. When I finally got to my destination and had a hot bath, I was thrown into a dark drum, spun around for ages and came out felted. The brutality! I am deeply humiliated. My cut ends are all stuck together in a tight carpet.
I’m your favourite gute fleece! Know that I’m full of surprises with my oh-so-soft undercoat fibers and quirky kemp.
I’m not done in yet, though, I will be picked, I will be freed from the felted slippers and allowed air between my fibers. You see, I have many to choose from! I offer many a kemp quirk, in both black and white. They keep my staples open and upright. They are excellent travelers, they will spred through the living room like the rustling leaves when you open the front door on a windy September day.
Will you look at my glorious vanilla shine!
Some of them will stay in my fleece, but most of them will fall out and leave sweet pockets of air between the softest fibers you can ever imagine. The colour of vanilla at the tips, smooth like velvet, I tell you. Rustic grey at the bottom, strong and sturdy. As you pick me you will see what I can do for you. You already found out I can felt into a beautiful structure that will withstand wind and rain, just like I could before I was shorn off that sweet gute lamb.
Rya as dark as the night sky
Do you see the length of my fibers? On and on they go, from the solid cut ends to the tips with the sweet lamb’s curls. No, don’t play with them, it tickles! I’m black as the night, what were you thinking there, really? You know you can’t see to spin black!
I’m your rya diva! Come, let’s admire my long and shiny staples together.
But don’t you worry, I’ll help you. Just close your eyes and feel my sweet undercoat, soft and fine, enjoy the length of my strong and shiny outercoat. I will give you so many options to play with, to dive in to, to get utterly and senselessly wild with. Perhaps blend it all together, perhaps spin one soft and warm, one strong and shiny. Do explore! But pick me first, get to know me deeply, lean in and let me guide you to my strengths, my gifts, my spirit. Lean in some more as you pick me, staple by staple, feeling all my wealth, my treasures and my soul. Meet me in my core and spin from your heart.
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
The other week when I visited Claudia and her sheep flock, I realized that I have a seasonal cycle when I create yarn and textiles. In a year in wool, autumn is the beginning.
In October, when most of the vegetables in the allotment have been harvested, a majority of Swedish wool is also harvested. For the sake of sheep health, the law says sheep are to be shorn at least once a year. Still, many sheep farmers shear their sheep twice a year: In the autumn, before the ram serves the ewes, and in the spring before the lambs are born. The autumn harvest is when my wool year begins.
Shearing seasons
The autumn wool usually has the highest quality. During the winter the sheep has been pregnant and the lamb hogs a lot of the nutrition. The winter in Sweden is cold and the fleece is extra lanoliny, not much different from our own hair in the winter. Perhaps the sheep have been indoors a lot of the time, leaving time for lots of dirt, straw and bedding to find its way in between the fibers. This leaves a winter fleece that can be dirtier, in poorer condition and with more and heavier lanolin in it.
Professional shearer Elin Esperi shears Sylvester the Gestrike lamb in the autumn of 2021.
After that winter coat has been shorn off in the spring shearing, the lambs are born, and soon after the sheep gets access to lots of nutritious grass and fresh air, leaving the fleece in a better state for the autumn shearing.
Fleece hunting
The sound of moving shears sparks my year in wool: I look for fleece to buy, just like on any autumn farmer’s market. Or, rather, fleeces sort of find me and look at me with roe deer eyes and whisper: ”Spin me, spin me!”. And so, in late October I find myself with a compost grid on the floor with drying fleece, another fleece in the wash tub and a third dried and waiting to be picked.
The fleece of Lotta the Svärdsjö ewe is drying in front of the fireplace. Behind the camera are bags with fleeces of the Gestrike sheep Härvor and Doris, waiting to be picked.
This means that I do a lot of wool preparation and spinning during October, November and the first weeks of December. When the pantry is filled to the brim with newly harvested vegetables, I do my best to take care of the oldest fleeces before I dive into the freshly shorn. It is hard, but sometimes I succeed.
A tree
In late december a tree with glittering ornaments moves into the house, right where my spinning wheel usually stands. This is a quite time of year when I like to turn to weaving in the local weaving room. I get to destash and get out of the house during my two weeks or so of holidays.
Towards the end of the year I like to spend some time in the local weaving room.
When the tree is all glistened out and transformed to fire logs I get my spinning wheel back, and return to spinning. The sun is slowly coming back and lights up the living room again. I plan what to sow in the community garden allotment, alongside planning my spinning projects for the spring.
When the sun returns
The returning sun brings sprouts out of the soil and new inspiration into my mind. At this point I want to do everything at once. Weave! Nalbind! Two-end knit! Weave some more! I want to get outside and create textiles, and the spinning wheel gets a little dusty. My life moves outdoors step by step.
Small projects I can work on outdoors start to poke me in the head in the spring.
At the same time the fleeces in my wool queue start to squeak in the back of my mind and I get a bit concerned about the risk of the oldest fleeces going brittle.
Make room for flax
In the summer when the temperature rises and the crops are more independent than the tiny sprouts just a couple of weeks earlier, I like to take my spinning outdoors in one shape or form. I dust off my flax wheel and spin on the balcony in the afternoon shade.
In the summer I like to craft outdoors.
I also prepare smaller projects to bring to vacations and excursions – spindle spinning projects, band weaving, two-end knitting and nalbinding. Usually around five parallel projects or more.
Late summer collision
Towards the end of the summer, a lot of the vegetables in the garden need picking, all the while work has started after the summer holidays. I have harvested the flax, started lots of textile projects and need to finish some to ease my mind.
Towards the end of the summer I have lots of projects to finish.
When autumn has settled and the most critical vegetables are taken care of, I have finished some of the parallel projects that sprouted in the spring. The wool queue is shorter and neater and I forget all about it when shearing season is back again.
What is your year in wool like?
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to miss anything!
I have a facebook pagewhere 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 patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. 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.
I am writing a book! In the later half of 2025 Listen to the wool: A why-to guide for mindful spinning will be available. Read more about the book here.
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.
I have a long queue of fleeces. In the storage of my sofa bed I have at the moment 12 fleeces that are washed and picked but not spun. These are my ladies in waiting.
When I buy a new fleece I try to keep a strict order – first in first out. It’s not always that easy, a new fleece is so exciting and shiny and much more tempting to dig my hands into than the older ones. But I have had fleeces that were too old go brittle, so I try my best to work my ladies in waiting in strict order.
The fleeces in the featured image above are not part of my stash.
Pressure
Out of the twelve fleeces in the sofa bed nine were shorn in the autumn of 2021. This means that nine fleeces are older than one year. I try to keep my queue no longer than one year, and obviously I have failed at keeping this goal. Having that many fleeces in my queue and knowing that the quality will deteriorate does put pressure on me.
Gestrike, Gute and Tabacktorp fleeces when I forst got them, now in paper bags waiting for me to spin them.
The ladies in waiting
So, here are my ladies in waiting, all washed (with water only), picked and stored in paper bags in my sofa bed:
On the spinning wheel I have Nypon (Rose hip), the last of a silver medal winning finull fleece from the Swedish fleece championships of 2020. This is my oldest fleece, but still in excellent condition.
Elsa is a Gestrike fleece shorn in the autumn of 2021. I have sorted the fleece according to staple type and spun all of one category into a hat and a pair of mittens. The rest of the categories are neatly stored in individual bags.
My sweet gute fleece that I am planning to tease together with recycled sari silk is also from the autumn of 2021, but the lanolin feels a bit sticky. This will be the next fleece I spin.
Four Åland fleeces from 2021, long, fine, silky and delicious.
Three medalists from the 2021 fleece championships – Fjällnäs, Helsinge and Dalapäls wool.
Tabacktorp, Dalapäls and Icelandic fleeces shorn in the autumn of 2022. My most freshly shorn and therefore most attractive fleeces. I’m spinning the dalapäls fleece at the moment (see below). I have separated the Icelandic fleece into undercoat and outercoat.
Lately I have been spinning my newest fleece, a shiny dalapäls fleece with long, silky locks, shorn in October 2022. The fleece ruthlessly cut in line since I needed more yarn for a pair of two-end knitted sleeves that had run out of yarn. Spinning this wool this fresh is a dream – the staples are open and airy. The fibers lightly and smoothly join into the twist like a breath of fresh air and a dance. An older fleece on the other hand can be tougher to spin, as if the lanolin has gotten tired and cranky, fighting me as I try to get my head around it. An older fleece can also have become compacted and slightly felted after having been compressed in the sofa bed, even if I have picked it before storing.
Putting my foot down
As I was spinning my merengue white and fresh dalapäls fleece I realized that I need to make some changes in my fleece purchasing pattern. I don’t have to buy every unusual, unique, special or otherwise interesting fleece I see. Wool grows back again. There will be other chances. And I have enough of a network of sheep owners to get a high quality fleece when I need it, not only when I see one that looks interesting.
Sweet dalapäls yarn, spun from freshly shorn fleece.
This new and fresh thought got my shoulders to sink in relief. Spinning is such a joy to me and should never, ever be involved with pressure of any kind. It is and should always be a sanctuary, a place for creativity and making.
A new plan
I decided that I want to shorten my fleece queue to a level where it doesn’t stress me. I have so many other projects and baby ideas I want to work on– mending, upcycling, designing, destashing, course creating, webinar planning, writing etc. And of course spinning the twelve ladies in waiting, beginning with the oldest and/or most urgent fleece. I will in no way, shape of form be without craft.
Mending, sashiko and embroidery are on my list of crafting for 2023.
So, my plan for 2023 is to not buy fleece, at least not before I have spun the 2021 fleeces. This is not a resolution, not a promise. A plan and a wish, a year of cleaning up and organizing in my idea cabinet.
A current weaving project in the local weaving room – 1/3 twill from handspun singles in both warp and weft. If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see the beginning of this almost 4 meter weaving project in my January 2023 video postcard.
I will still spin, knit, weave and write. I will just create from what I already have. Perhaps that will give me the opportunity to expand my creative horizons. One plan is to frog old garments (handspun and commercial) that I don’t use anymore to knit new and shiny things from.
How do you deal with a large fiber stash?
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.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.
It’s that time again, when I look back at the year gone by and summarize my blog posts. Whether you are new to the blog or have followed me for a while, this is your chance for an overview, looking back at 2022.
Come join the 2022 blog post ride! I have divided the posts into categories for easier browsing. Read them all or pick your favorite categories, there should be something for everyone.
Preparing and spinning
Have you missed my breed study webinars? Well, I did, but there was only time for one this year. I hope to invite you to more in 2023. The breed this time was not Swedish, but as close as you get, the beautiful Åland wool – long, silky and full of contrasts. Åland wool is, just like many of the Swedish heritage breeds a dual coat and I wrote a post about that too. To stay with the eastbound theme I also demonstrated and reviewed my new Finnish hand cards – 108 tpi and with leather pads.
The Finnish hand cards and eight different yarns from Åland wool.
Teasing and picking are steps I don’t want to be without when I prepare a fleece. As I wrote the post on picking my husband asked me what steps I may skip, what I never skip and why. So I write a post on Cutting corners.
Picking, teasing and Austen.
A few years ago I got the opportunity to spin on and shoot a video of a great wheel at Vallby open air museum. This year I was invited back to spin in public on the same wheel. Of course I wrote a blog post about spinning on the great wheel too.
I’m spinning on the great wheel at Vallby open air museum.
Sometimes when I go on an excursion in a fleece I make a wool board to put down my discoveries and ideas on paper. Perhaps you get inspiration to make one too.
Projects
During the year I have finished lots of smaller projects and a couple of big ones. I finished the first project of the year with perfect timing in early January – a pair of Moroccan snow shoveling pants that I wear when I go down to the lake for my daily dip.
Photo by Dan WaltinPhoto by Isak WaltinA rya bench pad, an Icelandic style sweater and a pair of snow shoveling pants.
When I had finished them I started another large project – a rya bench pad for my husband’s birthday. I also managed to produce an Icelandic style sweater. Before that I wrote a love letter to the Icelandic fleece I used for the yarn.
During the spring I got a sudden urge to make tie-on pockets. One pocket led to another and suddenly I had made four. The first one was made from two eBayed linen towels with an amoeba shaped pattern in couching stitch. The second was also in linen, but made from a 60’s evening clutch, and I made the third from a vintage Harris Tweed jacket. The fourth didn’t involve any recycling at all. I used påsöm embroidery on broadcloth.
Three out of four pockets – linen (made from an evening clutch from the -60’s), påsöm embroidery and tweed (made on the bias from a Harris tweed jacket).
Teaching and learning
A few times a year I teach spinning courses here in Sweden. Preparing for and teaching a five-day course at Sätergläntan has become a sweet tradition in the summer. In the autumn I taught another course in a beautiful setting. One thing that is important to me is to find every student’s way of learning and to see them make progress. In this search of people’s learning process I learn so much myself and I am truly grateful.
A new spindle delivery from Björn Peck just in time for my five-day course A spindle a day at Sätergläntan.
My main teacher, alongside with my students, is the wool. It is by listening to the wool and hearing its response that I learn and understand how it is constructed and how I can work with it and not against it.
On the 2022 wool journey we learned about påsöm embroidery.
I try to take a course myself every now and then too. This year’s wool journey with my wool traveling club was a sweet September weekend with påsöm embroidery.
The Twist model online course, the Åland wool webinar and the Hands-on five-day challenge.
Online I recently released a lecture, the Twist Model where I give you a tool and a theoretical framework about how to work between spun and unspun with ease and quality. Take it if you haven’t already! The Åland wool breed study webinar of course. In the beginning of the year I had a sore thumb from spinning, which resulted in the Hands-on five-day challenge.
Summer is my flax season. This is when I bring my spinning wheel out on the terrace and spin my daily flax in the shadow on warm days. I wrote about having a temporary flax brain, about my flax harvest, about a custom made scutching knife and my retting process. I wrote an interpretation of Sleeping beauty, that I call the flax princesses and released a video where I show how I rehackle old flax. As a sidetrack I also played with harvesting, processing and spinning Nettles.
A band woven with my nettle yarn, spinning flax on my sweet wheel Henrietta and harvesting this year’s flax. The harvesting picture resulted in someone making a necklace with the pattern from the flax bundles. And I bought the necklace.
Spin where you are
In Ground and explore and Spin where you are I invite you to explore from the place in spinning you are at right now, both when it comes to your skill level and spinning shape at this moment. In I am a spinner I explore back in time to the place where I went from knowing how to spin to being a spinner. I was surprised to actually find a specific moment in time when this happened. I cherish the memory of a moment of the opening up of doors, just as I cherish the memory of the moment when I cracked the reading code (a 10 x 10 cm booklet about a hedgehog flying a red air balloon) when I was around five or six.
Ground and explore
This and that
Well, I tried, but not all the posts got a natural spot in the categories I chose for this looking back at 2022 post. But don’t worry, they will get their own category.
I read, I mend and I carve nalbinding needles.
All posts on the blog aren’t about wool and spinning. I managed to Mend a pair of jeans hems, exploring techniques I hadn’t used much before. In sloyd I explore different materials and techniques and show you how I carve nalbinding needles. Finally, I give you some tips of sweet books I recommend.
In Reciprocity I reflect over all the gifts I get and cherish when I spin. In an effort to pay both back and forward I write to show my gratitude for all I learn and receive from spinning. Another way to pay forward was the Auction for Ukraine I held in March. Together we donated $450 to UNHCR for Ukraine.
I write.
All in all I have written 52 blog post (including next week’s) in 2022. I have also made one five-day challenge, one breed study webinar one YouTube video and one course. If you are a patron I have sent you 12 video postcards during the year. If you are not a patron yet you are more than welcome to become one.
Coming up in 2023
I do have plans for 2023 too. The past two years I have released a free five-day challenge. There might be one in 2023 too. Perhaps a new short lecture, in the same style as the Twist Model. There are still spots left on my five-day course A spindle a day at Sätergläntan in June. Weekly blog posts of course, breed study webinars and some sweet, sweet spinning. I hope to see you and learn from you in any of these contexts.
From my woolly heart to yours: Thank you.
Oh, and I will turn 50 in 2023, something I look forward to. I may make you a part of my celebration.
I wish you peace, wool all the best for 2023!
Happy spinning!
You can find me in several social media:
This blog is my main channel. This is where I write posts about spinning, but also where I explain a bit more about videos I release. Sometimes I make videos that are on the blog only. Subscribe or make an rss feed to be sure not to miss any posts.
Myyoutube channel is where I release a lot of my videos. Subscribe to be sure not to missanything!
I have a facebook pagewhere I link to all my blog posts, you are welcome to follow me there.
On Patreon you can get early access to new videos and other Patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patreon only benefits. The contributions from my patrons is an important way to cover the costs, time and energy I put into the videos and blog posts I create. Shooting and editing a 3 minute video takes about 5 hours. Writing a blog post around 3. You can read more about my Patreon page here.
You are also welcome to make one-off donations on my Ko-fi page.
Follow me on Instagram. I announce new blog posts, share images from behind the scenes and post lots of woolliness.
Read the new 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.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.
