{"id":3790,"date":"2019-12-07T07:43:03","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T06:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=3790"},"modified":"2021-12-13T06:43:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T05:43:47","slug":"varmland-wool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/varmland-wool\/","title":{"rendered":"V\u00e4rmland wool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of my favourite breeds to spin is V\u00e4rmland wool \u2013 a versatile and lightweight wool in many colours. This is the fourth part of my breed study of Swedish sheep breeds from the spinner’s perspective. Previous posts have been about Gotland wool<\/a>, Gute wool<\/a> and Dalap\u00e4ls wool<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Saturday, December 14th at 5 pm CET<\/strong> I will host a free<\/strong> live breed study webinar on V\u00e4rmland wool!<\/strong> I will share my experiences with the wool from a spinner’s perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Register for the webinar here!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About V\u00e4rmland sheep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e4rmland sheep is a Swedish conservation breed. Many of the Swedish domestic breeds were extinguished in the 18th and 19th centuries due to import of foreign breeds that were more meaty and had other wool qualities. When the domestic breeds were rediscovered around 30 years ago, V\u00e4rmland sheep (or forest sheep) was the first breed to be rediscovered. They all came from the same flock in the county of V\u00e4rmland, close to the Norwegian border. Due to an extensive conservation effort the 100 rediscovered sheep are now around 4000. In 2018 there were 1544 breeding V\u00e4rmland ewes in 170 flocks in Sweden, making V\u00e4rmland sheep our largest conservation breed regarding both individuals and flocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conservation breed means that the breed is protected. If the sheep farmer has a gene bank they are also committed to preserving the breed. This means that they are not allowed to cross the breed with other breeds. They also commit to strive for genetic diversity \u2013 breeding for specific characteristics (like wool or hornedness) is not allowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e4rmland sheep are quite small \u2013 a ewe weighs around 40\u201360 kg. They are good at keeping the landscape open and eat both shrubberies, flowers and herbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wool characteristics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Staples
Staples of V\u00e4rmland wool from the left: Two white staples from the same lamb of more of a traditional line. Silky and soft. The brown in the middle is open and airy and just a little coarser. The white silver grey with the honey-dipped tips is divinely silky. To the far right a brown staple with long outercoat and also lots of soft undercoat. All but the middle are from lambs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

V\u00e4rmland wool is very versatile. A lot of different wool types can occur in one individual, from long dual coated staples to both predominantly outercoat or predominantly undercoat. The fiber is quite fine and sometimes even silky. The staples can be crimpy, wavy or straight. Colours vary between white, grey, brown, beige and black. The staples are usually open and very easy to spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Three different V\u00e4rmland fleeces on the Swedish fleece championships of 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are two main lines of V\u00e4rmland sheep \u2013 the traditional line and the modern line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional V\u00e4rmland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A yummy white V\u00e4rmland fleece with many possibilities. This is more of a traditional V\u00e4rmland fleece.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The traditional line of V\u00e4rmland sheep has a lot of undercoat and a few strands of outercoat. The staples are triangular in their shape and the staples are open and airy. These are lovely to spin and make a soft, silky and strong yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern V\u00e4rmland<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A prize winning V\u00e4rmland lamb fleece of the modern line \u2013 lots of undercoat, long outercoat and some kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the V\u00e4rmland sheep was rediscovered some of them were crossed with Old Norwegian sp\u00e6l rams and possibly also Swedish Rya sheep. This gave the breed more outercoat and in some cases also more kemp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Versatile and lightweight wool of many colours<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If I were to pick out three main characteristics of V\u00e4rmland wool it would be versatility, lightweight and the large spectrum of colours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n