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Sheep with stories

Gunvor the Gestrike ewe who was my longitudinal fleece study sheep

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.

A woman shearing a white sheep.
A woman spinning yarn, silk fibers are folded over her index finger. She is wearing a teal knitted sweater with a wrap front.
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
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.

sheep with horns, black face and light grey wool.
A paper bag full of newly shorn grey fleece.
White and medium grey yarn.
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.

A pile of shiny white wool in front of the fireplace.
A pair of knitted sleeves in natural white yarn and a star pattern made of knits and purls. Two balls of yarn between the sleeves.
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.

Hands shearing a sheep.
A woman spinning on a walking wheel. A basket next to the wheel.
A light blue skein of yarn.
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.

A white and grey lamb.
Staples of wool in white and different shades of grey. The staples differ in length and crimp too.
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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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Into the forest

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.

A man taking photos of grey sheep in the forest.
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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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Survey results: Keeping records

Two weeks ago I sent out a survey about record keeping in spinning, and today I share some interesting results.

I am currently writing a chapter about keeping records in my upcoming book Listen to the wool. I created the survey to include other perspectives on record keeping than just my own.

263 of you answered the survey and I thank you all very much for contributing to the book with thoughtful reflections about different aspects of record keeping. This was the first ever survey I have made and I have loved reading your replies. They were very valuable for my book, but I will also share some results and thoughts here.

Written and physical documentation

First of all, I was curious about what the respondents document and when. Many of them kept written records of things like tools, techniques, breed, sheep owner, and different calculations like weight and length of the yarn, and fleece to yarn yield.

The questions in the survey I sent to my email list of spinners.

When it came to physical documentation fewer people documented, but the most common type of physical documentation was by far yarn samples. The most common time for documentation was at wool preparation, spinning and after finishing the yarn. Many sheep owners also kept records at the time of shearing.

A flora of record keeping systems

I also asked the respondents to comment on their written and physical record keeping and whether they document in the same way and the same things. It turned out that there is a wide variety of ways people document and. Some respondents expressed their curiosity about other spinners’ ways of keeping records. One respondent even offered to show me their system for documentation, and I’m meeting them this weekend.

Systematic record keeping

Some seem to document very systematically with samples of staples, yarns and swatches in different techniques in books and binders, transparent plastic pockets or in a card index. Many of these respondents seemed to document the same way and the same things through all their projects. At this point I really regretted not asking for pictures of their documentation, people seemed to have so many interesting systems.

Small scale documentation

Some kept their records to a minimum, perhaps just a sample by the spinning wheel or a label on the finished skein. “I’ll spin and swatch, make a decision and plunge forward”. Some saved swatches with inventive ideas as memory aids:

“I especially love to save swatches knitted at different gauges and in different patterns. This type of documentation is useful to me. I tie knots in the yarn tail to tell me what needle size I used.”

Others developed their record keeping through the years, perhaps starting in a small scale and working up a system as they learned. Or the other way around – starting big, with lots of details documented, and making it smaller as they learned. One respondent expressed their system like this:

“I tend to document the things I find interesting and the details that I think will help me make best use of the finished yarn.”

16 per cent of the respondents didn’t do any written documentation at all and 25 per cent didn’t do any physical documentation. However, I know some people said didn’t answer the survey at all because they don’t do any documentation.

Storage issues and solution

Some respondents mentioned storage as an issue, after many years of spinning there simply wasn’t enough space to keep all the records. Some had inventive solutions for keeping and storing records: “Sample cards are great references, I keep in my mom’s old wooden recipe file box. I can easily get out a card with information about spinning a particular breed or using a specific technique to help with a future project.”

What do you use your documentation for?

There were lots of interesting answers to this question. Many respondents kept their records for their own education,

“it isn’t just about keeping a record so I can spin the same yarn at a later date, it is about a growth in my crafting.”

Some keep records to remember what they had done, especially if they knew there would be periods when they wouldn’t spin. Some kept their records for consistency and for matching yarns with other yarns. Yet some did it for nostalgic reasons.

“I always tell myself that it’s a good idea to have records. So far, they haven’t changed my life much—I’ve never really gone back and tried to re-create a yarn I made a long time ago. But it’s nice to have a record.”

I especially love this quote:

“Some times I just like to page through my records for inspiration or to see my own progress, like a photo album but for my yarn children.”

A few respondents kept their records for a combination of reasons. Here is one example:

“I use the documentation to develop my learning of handling of the wool and the creativity, but also to just allow the senses to dominate as I have my hands in the wool or the swatch, letting my thoughts rest, come and go.”

(my translation from Swedish)

“Because I should be doing it”

Some respondents expressed that they were unsure of why they were keeping records and whether they were doing it enough or the “right” way.

“I haven’t started documenting yet. I suppose I should in order to be more consistent in my spinning. Being self taught, I’m not always sure what to document for better spinning”

In this context some seem to feel a pressure to keep records, from both the spinning community and from spinning teachers. Here are a couple of examples:

“Mostly to assuage guilt that I should be doing it! (As in, this is what good spinners do, right??)”

and

“people seem to think you have to, so there’s always conversation about it”.

As a spinning teacher I take this seriously. I need to find ways to talk about why I keep records of my spinning process and encourage my students to play with their wool without feeling obligated to keep records for the sake of keeping records. What can we as a spinning community do to make people feel comfortable documenting just for themselves or not at all?

Spin for pleasure or spin for numbers?

One interesting reflection made by quite a few respondents were about a feeling of a dichotomy between keeping records and spinning for the process – that keeping records somehow stood in the way of the spinning experience and joy.

“The pleasure of spinning is the most important reason I do it. Keeping documentation is not pleasant for me. I keep minimal written information on my ravelry page for handspun.”

One respondent took the dichotomy to a deeper level in their reflections:

”I have a divided feeling towards documentation. I can enjoy pretty labels and love to be organized. But I also struggle against the feeling of what isn’t documented isn’t worth anything. So I can wish that I documented more and that I documented less? I like to document, but perhaps I wish I didn’t? I wish that not everything needed to be a documented experience to fall back on but just something pleasant that I engaged in for a while and that later was allowed to be forgotten.”

(my translation from Swedish)

For me, record keeping is no hindrance for enjoying the spinning process. Record keeping and enjoying the process coexist in my spinning and are mutually beneficial. Can it be that a feeling of record keeping as a must stands in the way of the joy of the process? Perhaps we need to reflect more over why we keep records rather than assume everybody does it because they should.

A white paper with eight different yarn samples attached to it, each with a short hand written explanation of the technique.
Eight different yarn samples from one fleece.

Again, thank you all who participated in the survey. The results really helped me sharpen the structure and content. I have now almost finished the 9th chapter of the book. After the next chapter I’m half way through the manuscript!

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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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Silk and kemp

I’ve done it before, married a kempy Gute fleece with recycled sari silk with surprising success. Today I’m combining silk and kemp again, with even more success.

If you are a patron (or want to become one) you can see how I tease, blend and spin the Gute wool with sari silk in my February 2024 video postcard.

The combination wool from a primitive breed like Gute sheep, including kemp, with something as delicate as silk is quite intriguing, and I still giggle when I think about when the idea poked me in the eye a couple of years ago.

2021: First try

Back then it was a Gute lamb’s fleece. I teased the wool with my combing station, while at the same time blending it with recycled sari silk. A lot of the kemp stayed in the combs as I teased the wool. Sadly, a lot of the sari silk did too.

A person pulling grey wool off a stationary wool comb. Lots of colourful specks in the tines of the comb.
A hand holding up a grey ball of yarn with colourful specks in it.
A piece of paper with samples and swatches of grey wool and colourful silk. Hand writing that describes the wool.
Lots of the sari silk got stuck in the tines of the combs when I teased and blended the first Gute fleece back in 2021. I got a lovely little skein and did a couple of fulling tests.

The result was a surprisingly soft yarn, though, with little specks of silk next to the quirky kemp. Sadly, I only spun that one small skein as a test when I bought the fleece, and when it finally was the Gute fleece’s turn in my fleece queue, it had gone old and brittle. With a heavy heart I placed it on my garden beds as mulching. I was quite crushed by this (even if the vegetables weren’t).

2024: Second try

A year or so ago I got myself another Gute lamb’s fleece, with beautiful soft undercoat and quite a lot of kemp. This one made its turn in the fleece queue before it got brittle.

A bundle of raw wool with coarse looking staples and dirty tips.
Another Gute lamb’s fleece came home with me. Just as the first one it has lots of kemp.

This time I tried teasing it staple by staple with a flicker. And it really did the trick – by gently brushing the cut ends I got rid of a lot more kemp than I had with the combs. All that was left after the flicking were astonishingly soft fibers. Some kemp is still there, but I don’t let it bother me.

Two hands holding a staple of grey and coarse looking wool.
A brush stroking a staple of white wool.
A hand holding three pieces of wool: a staple in the middle, a bundle of coarse fibers in the bottom and a teased staple of fine and soft looking fibers in the top.
With a simple brush with the flicker I remove lots of the kemp and end up with fine and silky fibers. The rightmost image shows the original staple (middle), the flicked staple (top) and the waste in the flicker after flicking (bottom).

When I look at the flicked staples I can see that there are outercoat fibers, but very close to the fineness of the undercoat fibers. Just sweet locks of silky vanilla kindness, light as feathers and dying to spoon with some sari silk.

Two baskets with wool. Soft and white teased wool in the left, staples of coarse looking wool in the right.
Flicked (left) and unlicked (right) staples of Gute lamb’s wool.

My usual yield from raw fleece to finished yarn is around 55 per cent. I expect this yield to be lower due to the amount of kemp removed, but the result is truly astonishing and definitely worth it. Flicking staple by staple is time consuming, but I do it while bingeing Downton Abbey, and enjoy the slow movements of the flicker. Once a staple is flicked it feels like a luxurious soap against my skin.

Enter recycled sari silk

My plan was to use combs to blend the sari silk with the teased staples. However, when I tried adding the sari silk straight onto the cards I realized that it worked wonderfully well. I just pulled a staple length of the sari silk off the braid, teased it sideways to match the width of the wool on the card and placed it on top. Carding was a dream and the silk blended smoothly and evenly into the batt.

A hand dressing a hand card with white wool.
A hand card dressed with white wool and colourful silk fibers.
A hand card with wool blended with colourful silk.
I’m dressing the card with first the flicked staples and then the recycled sari silk.

When I find the rhythm I can card for ages. It’s like a dance and I swirl away to the muffled sound of brush strokes. The teased fibers make the smooth movements possible. My latest ebayed hand cards are a dream. I think they are from the -70’s, but made with old techniques. I have never experienced such smooth cards.

A hand shaping a rolag between two hand cards.
A carded rolag on top of a hand card. The wool is white and has specks of colour in it.
Shaping the gute/sari silk rolag into pure yumminess.

Woolen yarn and fulled dreams

I am spinning the rolags with an English longdraw on my spinning wheel and 2-plying it. I am spinning the yarn quite fine, around light fingering to fingering weight. As you can see in the picture below, there is still kemp in the yarn. Most of this will fall out during weaving, leaving air pockets that will make the fabric light and warm.

My plan is to weave it in tabby on my rigid heddle loom. I’m not sure how much yarn I will get, perhaps I will use it all as a warp yarn and spin some Icelandic undercoat wool the same way for the weft.

A skein of handspun light grey yarn with specks of colour. Some coarse fibers are sticking out.
A 2-ply yarn spun with English longdraw from carded rolags of Gute wool blended with recycled silk.

In May I will go to a fulling mill with my wool traveling club and full the finished weave, along with some other woven projects. More kemp will fall out in the intense handling, leaving a magical cloth. That is my plan, anyway. I’m truly excited about both the wool journey and the results. I will of course keep you posted.

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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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Triple time

When I count I automatically group the numbers in clusters of four – counting four steps and then another four in the staircase, four stitches in a pattern repeat, groups of four breaths in the cold bath. Also, usually four treadles at a time on the spinning wheel, as if I were spinning in common time. This yarn, though, wanted to be spun in triple time, a waltzing yarn.

I spin in triple time, treadling each wooly part through dancing hands
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
trailing wool, back and forth
One-two-three, four-five-six, gather twist,
seven-eight-nine, make the draw, arm's length back,
thirteen-fourteen-fifteen, yarn slides through
gather twist four-five-six.
fibers live, open up the twist,
finding space in the yarn, yield to the twist,
four-five-six, make the draw,
back and forth, leaning in to gather, back to draw the yarn, floating the twist, live in the fibers, between my hands, leaning forth again.
A row of wool staples in the snow, colour sorted from black to light grey.
Two hands separating the outercoat and undercoat of a staple of wool.
Two hands teasing a tuft of wool. A thin layer of fibers between the hands.
Icelandic wool separated, and the undercoat teased
Once sweet locks of Icelandic wool
pulled apart,
overcoat left, sparkling of charge
undercoat right, hair on end like the morning after
orderly piles, one for each
tease by hand
arched fibers stretched, layer by layer
Welcome air!
to breathe, to puff, and gently let go.
A person carding wool, the wool stretching between in a movement between the cards.
A person carding wool, transfering the fiber between the cards.
A person shaping a rolag of wool between two cards.
Card, tease and roll, in triple time.
A handful of wool
offered to the card
softly-softly brush,
one-two-three
transfer wool
four-five-six,
shape the roll
promising loft
carding a waltz.

Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
swaying and dawning a promise of yarn
seven-eight-nine, pulse of the twist eager to rush through
How can't I see it, that dazzle of fibers?
ready to catch the yarn,
make the yarn,
strengthen, soften
to the tune of the waltz.
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time
swaying the waltz,
softly.
Gently.
Fiber and yarn, that sweet spot between,
free to glide,
free to twist,
stay in the space, conform to its shape
Once there, inviting the twist back in
to seal, to protect the strength,
to surrender to the yarn.
A woman spinning from a rolag on a spinning wheel. A basket of carded wool in the background.
Bildtext
Four-five-six
make the draft,
shooting the fibers into its power,
still somewhat fiber, still somewhat yarn,
in limbo,
suspended between airy and dense,
between soft and strong. 
Hands in conversation through the yarn,
the bubbling
of the fire
in the point of twist engagement,
a point that is no point,
but a context of in-betweenness,
neither rolag nor yarn,
yet both, and still none,
open and close,
until my hands feel the spot to settle in, allow the twist back,
to seal, to confirm, to conform
in a newborn yarn, 
to land quietly, gently on the bobbin,
strand next to strand,
an arm's length from the rolag they were once part of,
yet a lifetime away,
a new shape, a new purpose.
Reading my words
makes me see
that I write
in clusters of three,
to the beat
and the sway
of a
tri-ple-time waltz.
A woman spinning from a rolag on a spinning wheel. A basket of carded wool in the background.
Still somewhat fiber, still somewhat yarn.
Trip-le-time, trip-le-time,
the dance in the yarn
in my hands
in my mind,
in my words and my soul.
The echo of three
as the yarn moves through me,
rippling the sway through my sizzling skin,
leaving a smile in my face and a song in my heart.

Buonanotte fiorellino was the waltz that breathed through my mind as I spun the yarn and wrote this piece (you can see a waltzy spinning reel on my instagram. What is your favourite spinning beat?

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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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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.

Two staples of wavy white wool on sunlit moss. The tips of the staples are wound around each other. A piece of melting ice in the upper left corner.
Gentle locks of Fjällnäs wool.

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.

A pile of raw white wool in the sun on a wooden board. The wool is shiny and the staples almost straight.
Raw Fjällnäs Wool.

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.

A pile of hand carded white rolags.
White carded rolags arranged in a grid.
Carded rolags of Fjällnäs wool.

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.

Three skeins of handspun yarn in untouched snow.
Three skeins of white handspun yarn in the snow. Some snow is on the skeins.
Three skeins of white handspun yarn are hanging in front of a wooden shed door.
Three skeins of Fjällnäs yarn, woolen spun from carded rolags of both undercoat and outercoat.

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!

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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
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Looking back at 2023

This time of year I like to take a look back at the blog posts (52 as it turns out) I have published and see where they have taken me. Come and join me, there is lots to read and dive in to.

Destashing

This blogging year has been a lot about destashing fleeces and handspun yarn. A full fleece queue where the fleeces are older than one year can be quite stressful, so I wrote about the ladies in waiting and what I planned to do with them. I also reflected over all the projects I had going. I do like to have parallel projects, but there were a bit too many at the time and I managed to destash some of them and also some of my knitting project.

A woman is sitting cross-legged outdoors. She is wearing a cropped handknit sweater in blue, grey and white.
Seven knit hats in a ros.
A woman wearing a handknit linen sweater in a sea green colour.
A yoga top and seven hats all from destashed and/or ripped handspun yarns. The linen top to the right is made from commercial yarn I ripped from a top I knit back in 2014.

During the autumn I have knit several things with either destashed or ripped yarns:

  • the Seguin top from commercial linen yarn
  • a yoga top from stashed handspun Icelandic yarn
  • A shawl from stashed and ripped handspun yarn
  • Seven hats from stashed and ripped handspun yarns.
A woman looking at the view over a lake. She is wearing a grey garter stitch shawl with blue short-row lace sections.
The Waiting for rain shawl swallowed a lot of my handspun stash.

My handspun stash is considerably smaller and even I feel lighter. I also have new ideas about how to use the remaining skeins. During the autumn I have bought lots of new fleeces, though, contrary to my plan of fleece moderacy. I do blame the book, though, I want to be able to show as many Swedish breeds as possible in it.

The vest that went viral

In April something unlikely happened. I had woven a twill vest in my local Vävstuga (weaving room). After having blogged about the finished vest I published a reel of me showing it. After a couple of weeks the reel went viral, and after a month it has over 3 million views. I went from 4500 followers to 32000.

A woman is wearing a blanket-like draperi shawl vest in green with a big collar. She is stand-ins in the snow.
A woman is putting on a blanket-like draperi shawl vest in green. She is stand-ins in the snow.
A woman is wearing a blanket-like draperi shawl vest in green with a big collar. She is stand-ins in the snow, looking up at the sky.
The vest that went viral.

It’s totally insane and I was overwhelmed during the craziest weeks. I feel I haven’t earned a following of that size, but most of them have stayed and they are all welcome to the community.

Birthday raffle

Later in April I turned 50. I decided to host a birthday raffle and donate the earnings to the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC). I made an embroidered spindle case for the raffle and 79 people raised 395 USD! I still don’t know if the winner ever got the prize, though, I haven’t heard from her.

A cylindrical case in grey wool. The case is embroidered with bold flowers in rich colours.
A cylindrical case in grey wool. The case is embroidered with bold flowers in rich colours.
A cylindrical case in grey wool. The case is embroidered with bold flowers in rich colours.
The birthday raffle spindle case.

The knit sleeve jacket

One of my most massive projects ever is the knit sleeve jacket. I started spinning the yarn for it in 2019 and I finished it in June this year.

A woman is wearing a jacket with a white broadcloth bodice and knit skeves with embroidered flowers in rich colours.
The knit sleeve jacket is finally finished!

The jacket features five different techniques:

  • the yarn that I spun on a supported spindle from teased locks of dalapäls wooland Z-plied
  • the sleeves that I two-end knit between 2019 and early 2023
  • the bodice that I hand-sew from commercial high quality broadcloth
  • a band I wove on a backstrap loom
  • Påsöm embroidery on the sleeves.
A woman is wearing a jacket with a white broadcloth bodice and knit skeves with embroidered flowers in rich colours. She is buttoning clasps in the front.
A woman is wearing a jacket with a white broadcloth bodice and knit skeves with embroidered flowers in rich colours. She is spinning on a suspended spindle.
My knit sleeve jacket goes very well with the midsummer light, a tie-on pocket and a suspended spindle.

I have learned so much in this project, not the least from ripping the sleeves a couple of times and having to spin more yarn with a new fleece when I ran out of the first batch.

Blue

A lot of my time this summer has beed dedicated to my indigo experiments. I grew two kinds of woad and two kinds of Japanese indigo and dove deep into their care and into fresh leaf dyeing and pigment extraction.

A woman wearing a blouse with leaf prints on the yoke and blue flowy cuffs.
A row of small skeins of yarn in shades of blue.
A small mason jar with a liquid in intense blue.
Under the theme of blue I have done some fresh leaf pounding and ice bath dyeing (left) and extracted indigo powder (right). I got a wide spectrum of colours from my fresh leaf experiments (center).

I have written a number of posts about my blue dreams, the fox that dug up the woad patch, my first ever fresh leaf dyeing experiments, the story of Ms Klein (who woke up one morning thrown over a hedgerow), dyeing with the few plants I had left of my Chinese woad, making an ice bath, showcasing all my fresh leaf dyed handspun silk samples and extracting indigo pigment.

Words flowing

Sometimes my words flow freely and wildly and I end up with a piece written in more of a poetic style. I put Taiko drum music in my ears and let the words lead the way. I love writing this way I learn a lot from it.

A band weaving setup on the train. A pile of books in the background.
A piece of seaweed floating in shallow water.
A woman cuddling a sheep.
I wrote some poetic style posts about a woven band, the sea and the breath of wool.

Here are some blog posts written in this spirit:

  • In One more beat I weave on the train and submerge myself in the beat of the tracks, the taiko drums and on the weave against the fell.
  • If wool could talk is an experiment where I allow a few fleeces to introduce themselves.
  • To the sea is a piece totally unrelated to wool, but in the same spirit.
  • A breath of wool came to me after I had handled fleece that had been freshly shorn off sheep that I had cuddled just before the shearing.
  • Stitch by stitch and Stitches and garden beds are sweet reflections from the embroidery needle.
  • In Pick me three fleeces pin me down onto the couch and hijack my blog.
  • In The journey of words and wool I reflect over the process of writing and spinning, that occur before the words land on the page and the fibers adjust in the twist.

Do you have a favourite?

Summer flax

In the summer I like to spin flax in the shadow on our balcony. And, of course, tend to my tiny flax patches in the community garden allotment. I did start in the spring, though, by hackling last year’s harvest. In the summer I finally finished the linen shawl I started last summer. I spun the yarn from 120 year old Austrian flax from the Berta’s flax project.

A woman is standing with her back to the camera on a country road, holding up a lace shawl. The shadow from the woman and the shawl is cast on the road.
A woman is standing in front of a cow pasture. She is wearing a lace linen shawl.
A woman is standing on a country road, holding up a lace shawl.
The linen shawl is finally finished.

I have grown flax in a tiny patch since 2014, but never spun it. This summer I spun all the harvests, some so small that I bundled them together, some large enough for a skein of their own.

Usually I dew ret my harvest in the autumn. This year, though, I tried water retting it in a kiddy pool. And, since I managed to underret it again, I reflected over flax yield.

Meeting fibery friends

This year I have met fibery friends from near and far and cherished every moment. In August I first met Christiane Seufferlein, initiator of the Berta’s flax project. She was on a European tour and we spent a whole day together in the former Viking city of Birka. Back in April Christiane and I also did a live webinar together.

Two women smiling. They are both wearing knitted lace shawls.
Two women smiling. They are holding each other's hands in the air and wearing black and white knitted pants.
Josh
Meeting Christiane (left) and Irene (right, photo by Josh Waggener) were such special moments.

Just a couple of weeks later I met Irene Waggener, author, knitter and independent researcher. She lives in Yerevan, Armenia at the moment, but she was taking a course in Copenhagen and I decided to take the train down to Malmö and meet her there. We spent a day in the park and the hours flew by. I was so glad I had decided to make the trip and that she wanted to meet me. I hope we can meet again soon.

A woman squatting in a pasture with a flock of black and grey sheep.
A woman squatting in a pasture with a flock of black and grey sheep.
A woman squatting in a pasture, holding out her hand to a black and grey sheep.
Boel (to the left on the left photo, by Kristin Jelsa) and me, Kristin and Anna with Boel’s parents’ flock of Gotland sheep.

In September it was time for the annual wool journey with my wool traveling club. This time we met at Boel’s house and spent the days weaving, knitting and chatting.

Meetings like these mean so much. Spending time with a fiber friend, merging my wool experience with theirs is such a gift. I hope to be able to do more of this in 2024.

Creating yarn

Miscellaneous spinning posts were a presentation of my spinning wheels, a guide to spinning on the road, a presentation of my year in wool. I also presented a pair of new Moroccan High Atlas socks and my collection of antique hand cards.

A spinning wheel and a red chair with a sheepskin on it are standing in a wintery landscape.
A person carding wool with antique cards.
A woman swinging her legs at a dock ladder. She is wearing hand knit socks. There are autumn leaves on the dock.
Spinning wheels, antique cards and new socks are themes for blog posts during the year.

Thank you sweet readers for staying with me. I learn so much from your questions and I cherish your comments. Thank you for making me a better spinner and writer.

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.
  • 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 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.
Posted on

Pick me

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.

Hands holding a section of white and crimpy fleece, picking out one of the staples so that the fibers straighten. The fleece has both fine fibers and white and black kemp.
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.

Hands holding a section of white and grey fleece, picking out one of the staples so that the fibers straighten.
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.

Two hands holding up a bunch of wool staples, grey in the cut ends and vanilla white in the curly tip ends. Kemp sticks out here and there.
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!

Two hands picking very long, straight and black staples from a mass of staples.
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.

Learn how to pick your fleece in this short lecture.

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.
  • 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 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.
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Wool tasting

I always finish my longer courses with a wool tasting – an opportunity to try samples of five unknown sheep breeds, prepare and spin them. But it is also a lot more than that.

This past week I have been at Sätergläntan craft education center, teaching my five-day course A spindle a day. Every day for four days the students get to learn about a new spindle type – suspended spindle, floor spindle, in-hand spindle and supported spindle.

Crafters are welcome at Sätergläntan!

You can have a peek at last year’s course here.

Sätergläntan

This is the sixth time I teach at Sätergläntan, and the fourth time I teach this particular class. Sätergläntan craft education centre is a beautiful spot in County Dalarna in Sweden, with both year-long courses and five-day summer courses. Any day of the year Sätergläntan is sparkling with craft, crafting and crafters. The opportunity to talk about crafting at any of the meals during the week is truly unique, and very dear to me.

Students in deep concentration on suspendera spindles and in-hand spindles.

My students have had their share of joy, frustration, revelations and insights, all from their skill level and way of learning. My challenge as a teacher is to do my best to meet every student at their level and learning process. It is also a great inspiration.

Explore and learn

Although we focus on one particular spindle type each day, the knowledge the students get from one spindle type is of good use to them for the spindle types to come. They learn about the Twist Model and how they use it with all the spindle types, as well as how to work with the fiber we happen to have at hand for different purposes. Through the whole course the students also prepare their fiber. I encourage them to play and explore to be able to make informed decisions as they go.

Floor spindles and supported spindles by Björn Peck. In the background (right) spindle cases by me.

For the course I brought all the spindles for the students. That means 10 of each of the four spindle types I taught in the class. Suspended spindles and in-hand spindles for the students to borrow and floor spindles and supported spindles from Björn Peck for purchase. And there were purchases. My suitcase was a lot lighter on the train back home.

Wool tasting

The wool tasting takes place on the fifth day. By then the students usually feel safe in the group, they know their strengths and challenges and they have built a bank of experiences. They have made mistakes and learned from them. The lessons are worked into their muscle memories.

Wool tasting is an exercise I came up with when I started teaching summer courses at Sätergläntan. In the wool tasting the students get to try a sample of one unknown fleece for fifteen minutes, for a total of five different fleece samples. During these fifteen minutes the students’ task is to prepare (some of) the wool, spin it and take some notes on a wool tasting table I provide them with. They fill in their first impression of the wool, how they want to prepare and spin it, and what the result was. On the edge of the wool tasting table are holes so that they can attach a yarn sample. Everything is done in silence. As they explore the wool, take notes, prepare and spin it I sit and watch, secretly fizzing of pride of my students and the decisions they make.

A diploma

In the wool tasting the students get the opportunity to put all they have learned to the test. When I teach I want them to be able to go home after the course has finished and continue on their own, exploring and making choices based on the tools and the experience they have. And they really do. The table they fill in is just for them, I have nothing to do with it. But the questions I ask them in the table guide them into noting different things about the wool before they start, as they work, and how their little yarn sample turns out when the fifteen minutes are up.

The time limit isn’t there to stress them, it’s rather to force them to make intuitive decisions and not overthink their choices. As they are finished they don’t only have have a table with yarn samples, they have made their own diplomas of the just finished five-day course.

A spinning meditation

After the wool tasting we have a chat about their experiences of it. One final thing is left: The spinning meditation. This is when we spin together in silence. I guide them into noticing aspects of their spinning like the wool, the fiber, the spindle and the motions. Toward the end I invite them to close their eyes as they spin. This is another opportunity for them to realize how, through the week, they have gotten to know their wool with all their senses, trusting that it will guide them if they allow their hands to listen.

If you want to try a spinning meditation, I have a spinning meditation video in English and Swedish.

After a few train delays I finally got back home to my family. I will keep this week at Sätergläntan in my heart and hope to come back next summer. Thank you spinning students and other crafters for a wonderful week!

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.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

Postcards

Earlier this week I shot, edited, transcibed and captioned what I call a video postcard – a simple and straightforward video greeting from me where I talk about a project I am working on. I create the postcards for my patrons.

If you want to get my video postcards you are welcome to become a patron on patreon.com.

I made my first video postcard a couple of years ago when I was on holiday in Abisko with my family. I talked about the area and the vast landscape in the northernmost part of Sweden and the middle of Sápmi.

A compelling format

That first video postcard was just a spontaneous greeting. I did enjoy the format and decided I would do it as a regular thing, just saying hello to my patrons once a month. It gives me a more personal connection to a smaller group of readers than I can provide in my public videos.

In the March 2022 patron postcard I start weaving a rya Beach pad for my husband’s 50th birthday (video screen shot).

Since then I have made several video postcards, some from vacations, some from home and some from the weaving room. I have talked about spinning bulky yarns, weaving a rya rug, spinning a lopi style yarn, teaching at Sätergläntan, picking a fleece, spinning silk and lots more.

Patron perk

I create my video postcards as a perk for my patrons. They have chosen to support me financially because they enjoy what I do. By the monthly fee they support me with, they play an important role in helping me keep my free stuff free for those who can’t pay. This way a large part of what I publish is free and accessible for a larger audience; this blog, my youtube videos, webinars and a lot of the courses, challenges and lectures in my online spinning school.

Cutting down the rya warp in the Weaving room in the June 2022 patron postcard (video screen shot).

Relaxed

The video postcards are always very simple and unpretentious. To keep them as simple as possible I don’t use a script and I usually shoot the video in one take and with a minimum of editing. I allow these videos to be as natural and low tech as possible. I want to enjoy making them and not see them as a burden. It’s very liberating to make these videos totally unscripted for a group of people that is as nerdy as I am, very differently from how I would approach a public youtube video.

In the August 2022 patron postcard I am in Austria, pointing out Schafberg/Sheep Mountain (video screen shot).

Sneak peeks and deep dives

Sometimes I make the postcards as a sneak peek into something I blog about later, sometimes I dive deeper into something I write about. Other times it’s just a simple greeting from a place I am visiting. Every postcard is a sincere thank you for the support I get from my patrons.

An improvised camera setup for a weaving moment for the October 2022 patron postcard. Photo by Dan Waltin.

Fresh from the editing room

The video postcard I made this week was about a project I have been working on for several years now and that is almost finished. Two shots in different angles, a bit of editing, transcribing the narration (this takes time, though) and captioning.

In the May 2023 patron postcard I show some påsöm embroidery on my two-end knitted sleeves.

Just to give you a glimpse of what a video postcard can look like, I will share one of them with you. This one is from July 2022 at Sätergläntan where I talk about my course A spindle a day. Enjoy!

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.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.