{"id":6377,"date":"2021-05-22T09:25:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T07:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=6377"},"modified":"2024-07-19T15:50:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:50:40","slug":"asen-wool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/asen-wool\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c5sen wool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00c5sen sheep is one of the ten Swedish conservation breeds. Today’s blog post and an upcoming breed study webinar are all about \u00c5sen wool. This is my ninth breed study. Previous breed studies have been about Gotland wool<\/a>, Gute wool<\/a>, Dalap\u00e4ls wool<\/a>, V\u00e4rmland wool<\/a>, J\u00e4mtland wool<\/a>, finull wool<\/a>, rya wool<\/a> and Kl\u00f6vsj\u00f6 wool<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The webinar has already taken place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c5sen sheep<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00c5sen sheep is one of the ten Swedish heritage breeds. This means that it is protected in gene banks and that the sheep farmers in the gene banks are not allowed to breed for specific characteristics, like the fleece. Therefore the fleece can vary a lot in a flock and in an individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00c5sen sheep were found in the 1990’s on three farms in the village of \u00c5sen in county Dalarna. The flocks had been kept on the farms for many years with no interference from other breeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00c5sen sheep. Photo by Ylva \u00d6rtengren.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00c5sen sheep are one of the forest sheep breeds and quite small. Ewes weigh 40\u201350 kg and rams 50\u201355 kg. The rams usually have beautiful horns. In 2020 there were 465 breeding ewes registered with the Swedish sheep breeder’s association, in 55 flocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wool characteristics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As most of the other Swedish heritage breeds, the wool of \u00c5sen sheep can vary greatly between individuals and within one single individual. Some individuals have kemp in their fleece. Kemp is a hollow fiber that is designed to keep the staples upright to protect the sheep from rain running in to the skin. Usually the wool from \u00c5sen sheep is easy to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wide variety of wool types<\/strong><\/a> are represented in this breed \u2013 p\u00e4lsull type<\/strong> (mostly outercoat with a little undercoat), rya type<\/strong> (about 50\/50 of outercoat and undercoat), vadmal type<\/strong> (mostly undercoat with a few strands of outercoat) and finull type<\/strong> (almost only undercoat). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Locks
Locks of different wool types from different individuals of \u00c5sen sheep in one flock \u2013 from mostly outercoat wool to mostly undercoat wool.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The colours<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The colour can vary from white to black with all the greys in between. Many sheep are born dark and lighten with age. So within a flock of sheep of different age there can be a wide variety of colours and shades. It is easy to see that you can spin a wide variety of yarn qualities and colours from a flock of \u00c5sen sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
This ewe has three wool types in her fleece \u2013 rya wool type (left), finull wool type (middle) and vadmal wool type (right). You can see some kemp in the staples to the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vadmal type wool<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of my favourite wool types is the vadmal wool type, with mostly undercoat fibers and just a few strands of outercoat fibers. Usually the staple is triangular in its shape, with a wide and airy undercoat base and a thin outercoat tip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mostly vadmal type wool in the staples from this \u00c5sen ewe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I contacted a shepherdess, Ylva, who has a flock of \u00c5sen sheep. I asked her to get me samples of the different varieties of wool found on her sheep. And she delivered. She had fastened staples on cards with information about the sheep and some thoughts about the wool. You can see some of the samples in the images above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main characteristics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I explore a fleece I want to get to the core of it. I look for the characteristics that I think represent the soul of the fleece. Every fleece is unique, but for the sake of these breed study webinars I choose characteristics that I think can work for the breed as a whole. The characteristics I chose for the \u00c5sen wool fleeces I have worked with are<\/p>\n\n\n\n