A new magical grey Shetland blend

 

The Shetland Islands are a magical landscape:

no wonder they make wonderful wool

 

Shetland has something that makes it truly stand out amongst other places - there’s a rich, vibrant knitting, spinning and textile scene and the industry has been revitalised in the last two decades. People care more about the provenance of their clothing, are interested in hand made and the stories that it holds. A decade ago, not many people would have imagined that knitting and spinning would go through such an incredible resurgence and that Shetland and Shetland sheep would once again become a very important place. 

Sheep have lived on the Shetland Islands for well over 1,000 years, adapting to the harsh environment and thriving in the cold, wet climate.

The sheep of Shetland were an important part of subsistence agriculture of the islands, and the rugged habitat and geographical isolation produced a breed that is distinct and significant. The Shetland breed likely descends from ancient Scandinavian sheep, and it is a member of the northern short tailed sheep breed family. Historically, only a few Shetland sheep were exported, and it was not until recently that large populations were established on the British mainland and in other countries. Though fleece continues to be the breed’s primary product today,

Shetland sheep are fine boned and small in size. Rams weigh 90–125 pounds, and ewes weigh 75–100 pounds. Most rams have spiraled horns, while most ewes are polled. Shetland sheep are calm and charming in disposition, docile, and intelligent. The Shetland breed is especially prized for its wool, which is fine, soft, and strong. Fleeces average two to four pounds and vary in crimp from wavy to straight. Other characteristics of the fleece vary according to recent selection history.
Populations of Shetlands in Britain, for example, have been selected for more standardized characteristics. These sheep tend to be single coated with fiber diameter averages of 23 microns and staple lengths of two to five inches.

Landrace populations, such as those on the island of Foula, include a greater range of fleece types. These sheep may be double coated, with coarser outer wool of 30-40 microns and finer inner coat wool of 12-20 microns.

Eleven colours and thirty colour patterns are recognised in the Shetland breed. This diversity is a great asset both to the breed and to the fibre artisans who enjoy using its fleeces. A few importations of Shetland sheep are documented in North America during the past two centuries. For example, Thomas Jefferson, owned a small flock of Shetland sheep at Monticello. None of the historic flocks, however, survived as purebred populations. Most Shetland sheep in North America descend from a 1980 importation of 32 sheep by the late G.D. Dailley of Ontario, Canada.

Unfortunately there are no Shetland Sheep in Australia. I have been very fortunate to secure this supersoft batch of 19.8 micron grey shetland, which is truly extraordinary to spin, felt, knit and wear. Although the Shetland sheep breed is no longer considered endangered, it is worth mentioning that coloured Shetland sheep are slowly disappearing. This is actually the case of all coloured sheep to predominantly white fibres, in favour of creating a more easily and economically profitable scouring and carding industrial process. Eg you don’t have to clean the carders and machinery every time you have to do a run of grey or browns or fawns. It is a shame, because coloured fleeces are amazing to dye and work with. The coloured base gives you so much more interesting tonal variations and depth of colour. Genetic diversity surely has to be encouraged rather than being discouraged. The good thing is that there are still small producers and crafts people out there who believe in this principle. Economically it is already tough but it is worthwhile to stick to one’s principles and be as diverse as possible. 

The story of Shetland wool and textiles is intricately entwined with the people and the place. Remote and rugged, Shetland’s ancient landscape has been home to the unique sheep and inspired craftspeople for centuries. Textiles have been key to the shaping of Shetland’s society, economy and culture and the story continues to this day!

The Shetland Islands were originally settled by Neolithic farmers over 4500 years ago. The horns of the sheep they raised have been found in archaeological digs on the islands, providing evidence of their presence. 

When the Vikings invaded and settled the Shetland Islands around the year 800, they brought over some short-tailed sheep from their continental herds, which interbred with the local sheep to produce further variation in an already hardy breed. 

By the year 1200, farmers began breeding the sheep of the Shetland Islands with some of the long-woolled sheep that had been brought north by the Romans. Either by accident or on purpose, this developed wool that was both longer and softer, and was therefore quite desirable for woolen goods that could both be used at home and that could be traded. 

 In 1468, the Shetland Islands were mortgaged to Scotland to raise a dowry for the marriage of Margaret, a Danish princess, to James III of Scotland. A few years following the marriage, the Scottish decided to just go ahead and annex the islands. Despite the protests of the Danes, they succeeded and the Shetland Islands became a part of Scotland. Trade in wool from the Shetland Islands was already occurring by this point, although it was likely happening only with Scotland and the Nordic countries. However, by the early 1600s knitted stockings from Shetland sheep wool, well known by then for its softness and comfort, were available through trade to the English and the Dutch populations. 

 In 1707 the Shetland Islands officially became a part of the Kingdom of Great Britain when the Acts of Union united England and Scotland as one country. At this time, wool from Shetland sheep was already widely known as a quality wool that was already softer than much of the other wool that was available. Except, of course, for the wool from Spain’s Merino sheep, which was highly regarded throughout Europe as the softest wool available on the market. 

As the late 1700s arrived, Great Britain set their sights on disrupting Spain’s firm grip on fine wool market. It is important to understand that the wool industry in Europe during the 1700s and early 1800s was as beneficial to a country’s economy as industries such as steel, aluminum and technology are today. A country that could produce fine wool in great quantities was a country that would have a solid financial base, and with a solid financial base came power and influence. Great Britain wanted to be that country, and believed that by acquiring Spain’s Merino sheep to breed with their own, the British wool industry would as least be equal to Spain’s – if not outright exceed that of Spain’s. Unfortunately for Great Britain, Spain simply didn’t want to give them any Merino sheep. Spain tightly controlled their Merino sheep and while Spain had made gifts of Merino sheep to some countries beginning in 1735, England was not on their list. Who could blame them? Prior to Spain’s development of Merino sheep, the English had been dominant players in Europe’s wool industry and Spain certainly did not want them to regain their position in the wool market. Enter King George III of Great Britain, Sir Joseph Banks, and Sir John Sinclair. 

By the 1880s, King George III had commanded Sir Joseph Banks to either find or develop a sheep that could compete the Spanish Merinos. At this point in history, a revolution in English sheep breeding using methodical, scientific and selective techniques had been going on within Great Britain for a couple of decades (see the article on Bluefaced Leicester). So, King George III and Banks had good reason to believe that by identifying and breeding just the right sheep, they could come up with something that would allow Great Britain to compete with Spain’s wool industry. With Merinos unavailable, Banks looked around the globe for sheep that would be suitable for wool-improvement purposes, even going so far as to examine sheep from Tibet. Sir John Sinclair of Scotland, a friend of Banks, had identified Shetland sheep as a promising breed. King George III was already a fan of having his stockings made of Shetland wool. The question was, could Shetland sheep be bred for the qualities the British wanted to have without Merinos, or would Merinos be required? Banks and Sinclair began a long correspondence by letters during the late 1780s through the 1790s exploring the possibilities. Sinclair sent samples of Shetland wool to Banks, but Banks was doubtful that the samples being sent to him, while fine and soft, were representative of the entire breed. He had noted that “stichel hairs,” longer and coarser hairs, were found in samples procured elsewhere. In fact, this was because many of the Shetland sheep of the time, like Icelandic sheep, were double coated and could produce both fine and thicker wool. Some Shetland sheep today still retain this trait. 

 Sinclair pressed Banks for many years to consider Shetland sheep as what Great Britain needed to breed for fine wool, describing what he referred to as the “kindly breed” of Shetland, or Shetland sheep that did not have the double coat with longer hairs that Banks disliked. He gifted Shetland wool to Banks that was “properly dressed and prepared” to exclude the long, rough hairs, making sure to include separate samples for Banks’ wife. He continually sent letters to Banks reassuring him that many of the Shetland sheep were free from the dreaded “stitchel hairs,” and then sent more letters discussing how he was looking at sheep from Denmark without long, coarse wool that might be bred with the Shetland to further reduce that trait. In another letter he describes how it is the method of gathering wool that produces the soft locks that Sinclair is looking for – Shetland sheep at the time, and many even today, will molt which allows the wool to be plucked off of the sheep. Sinclair let Banks know that this process, called rooing, meant that the wool was sorted between the fine wool and coarse wool as the plucking occurred. Despite all of Sinclair’s efforts, Banks was unconvinced that Shetland sheep were the answer. He continued to look for ways to get Merino sheep to breed with the sheep of Great Britain, which he was certain was the solution to improve the wool qualities in British flocks. 

In 1787, Banks managed to get two Merino rams and four Merino ewes out of Portugal, which became the base of the royal flock. Around this time, it can been seen from Sinclair’s letters that he gave up on the quest to convince Banks that Shetland sheep were the way of Great Britain’s future. Instead, Sinclair began to focus on breeding newly acquired Merinos from the royal flock to other sheep, and the Shetlands’ moment of glory began to fade. The Shetlands, like several other breeds of British sheep from that time, started to disappear as interbreeding for wool improvement resulting in the development of other lines of sheep. 

By the early 1920s, there were not many purebred Shetland sheep left. The wearing of Fair Isle sweaters by the British royal family in the early 1920 may have saved Shetland sheep from extinction. Fair Isle knitting is a stranded colourwork technique named after Fair Isle, one of the Shetland Islands, where distinctively patterned sweaters were knit using the technique. 

These sweaters began their rise to popularity in 1921, when the Prince of Wales (later Edward III) wore his in public. Knitted mainly with the many hues of naturally colored wool produced by the sheep of the Shetland Islands, along with some dyed wool accents, these sweaters began to become immensely popular with the broader public. 

The Fair Isle sweater hit the height of its popularity in the 1950s, although by that point it was often just the technique and design that made a sweater a Fair Isle sweater; it was no longer necessarily expected that the wool of the sweater be from the Shetland Islands, although if it was it did give the sweater that extra authenticity. With the burgeoning popularity of Fair Isle sweaters, it is perhaps not surprising that a group of 1920s Shetland islanders were motivated to preserve the few remaining lines of Shetland sheep. 

The Shetland Flock Book Society started in 1927, and around the same time the government was approached for assistance. The Department of Agriculture for Scotland agreed to support the effort by providing subsidies for purebred Shetland rams. The breed recovered slowly, though. Even the Fair Isle sweaters that were still knitted in the Shetland Islands during the 1950s did not necessarily use wool from the Shetland breed of sheep – there were still too few purebred Shetland sheep around, and the style of the day required bright dyed colors rather than the variety of natural colors provided by Shetland sheep – and dyed wool could be gotten from any sheep with white wool, not just white-wooled Shetland sheep. 

 By 1977, Shetland sheep were still listed as an endangered breed by the Rare Breed Survival Trust. However, interest in the sheep blossomed over the next several years, and by 1985 Shetland sheep were removed from the endangered breed list. It was perhaps not coincidental that the 1980s also marked the time during which Shetland sheep became popular among small farmers in United States. Although a few Shetland flocks had existed in the U.S. prior to the 1920s, it wasn’t a popular breed in the country until the 1980s, a time when many farmers in the U.S. were experiencing a renewed interest in rare breeds. 

A few Shetland flocks are on record as having existed in the United States during the early 1900s. However, from 1921 until the 1980s, Shetland sheep were not allowed to be imported to the United States, which prevented U.S. farmers from acquiring Shetland sheep during those decades. Today, though, a number of U.S. farmers are making up for lost time by raising Shetland sheep. It is a rare county fair, state fair, or fiber animal show that does not include these adorable little sheep among its ranks of livestock. 

Shetland sheep come in a wide variety of marking and colors – they include white sheep, black sheep, and a wide range of browns and grays. As a heritage, unimproved breed, Shetland sheep have one of three different kinds of fleeces: kindly/single-coated, long, and double-coated. The kindly/single-coated is the finest and shortest of the fleeces at only about 2-4 inches in length; it is used for fine knits such as lace, shawls and finely worked socks. The long fleeced Shetlands with soft and long staple wool between 4-8 inches in length are the most common these days, and much of the available yarn on the market is spun from their fleeces. 

The double-coated Shetland sheep are even more versatile than that of either of the other types, having a remarkably soft undercoat of wool and long and lustrous outercoat of wool that can reach lengths between 6-10 inches or more. The coats of the double-coated sheep can be separated, or spun together. Generally, Shetland wool has a thickness of 23-25 microns, but is can be even finer or thicker depending upon where it is gathered from the sheep. Wool between 10-20 microns can be gathered from the neck and shoulders, while wool between 25-30 microns can be gathered from the britches. Like Merino, many people who find wool to be irritating to their skin discover that wearing clothing made from the wool of Shetland sheep to be quite comfortable and not itchy at all. The wool is graded from Fine at its smallest diameter of 10 microns to Medium at its largest diameter of 30 microns, making it a very comfortable wool to wear.

This magical blend of grey Shetland with silk and cashmere are available now on the IxCHeL shop here:  https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new this week or you can search “shetland” in the search function on the IxCHeL website.

“Arthour the Brave”
an imagined grey Shetland sheep made into a painting

Please don't hesitate to contact me at any time if you have any questions okay? Always happy to enable❤️💕❤️

Have a wonderful, fun and creative week! Do what you LOVE and do it often 💕

Big hugs

 Charly

Outlander tops are back !

 

a smiling Soay lamb to make you feel better

This update is a very special one : My Outlander Scottish Soay Sheep blend ! I have done this blend first in 2014/2015 ! That’s ten years ago !! (how time flies !!!). The outlander blend is amazing to work with and super soft, so I am very very happy  to be able to offer you this blend again after lots of organising, blending and dyeing.   I cannot state enough that it is so important to keep rare breeds alive. It is however, harder and harder to get rare breed fibres organised for me to blend and dye them. It has taken a bit longer than normal this time, but it is so worth it and I hope you will enjoy spinning them as much as I have blending and dyeing them up for you.

The rare sheep breed in the spot light is the very special soay sheep of the Scottish Islands of St Kilda and Hirta ! It is a very, very rare ancient breed, with roots going back all the way to the bronze age ! 

The Isle of Soay, a name derived from the Norse word for Sheep Island, is near the North West corner of Hirta. A very dangerous, narrow channel and sea stacks separate the two. Soay is extremely difficult to access due to its steep rocky cliffs, boulder fields and lack of anchorage.

It can only be approached when seas are very calm and quickly changing weather can make getting off the island nearly impossible, it is the least accessible of all the islands in the archipelago. It is believed that sheep have probably inhabited Soay since the Bronze Age and are the descendants of the very first domesticated sheep which populated northern Europe. They are the most primitive surviving livestock breed in the UK. 

The sheep on Soay Island were not owned by the St. Kildans of Hirta, but instead by the islands various lairds (landlords). Their feudal tenants were allowed to annually collect fleece from these sheep and were occasionally permitted to take an animal, for a fee, to kill for special occasions. While Soay is somewhat larger (244 acres) than its neighbour Boreray (189 acres) Soay supports fewer animals per acre because its high central plateau is a marshy bog with little vegetation suitable to grazing sheep. 

St. Kilda is a group of islands which are the most westerly part of Scotland; they are 41 miles from Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides and 110 miles from the Scottish mainland. 

This archipelago consists of four small islands and some large rocky outcrops which are all that remains of a long extinct volcano. The islands are remote and spectacular with the highest cliffs in the UK and are the home to large colonies of seabirds. 

There is evidence that the main island Hirta has been inhabited for thousands of years but the habitation might not have been continuous. There is also evidence of human activity on the other three islands of Dun, Soay and the more remote Boreray. 

The island of Soay has been the home of the most primitive form of domestic sheep in the UK for thousands of years which have remained as a relic of early domestication due to isolation and inaccessibility. The islanders, known as the St. Kildans were the tenants of various owners of St. Kilda, they had limited resources other than the vast seabird colonies. They caught thousands of these birds and used their feathers and extracted their oil as a currency to pay their rent and to buy meagre provisions. 

The most remote island of the archipelago is Boreray which was used by the St. Kildans to harvest sea birds and their eggs and also keep a reserve flock of their unique domestic sheep, now known as Boreray Sheep. 

As more communications with the mainland improved the life of the islanders changed, they were subject to diseases brought by contact with outsiders which caused heavy mortality. There was movement to the mainland and immigration to other parts of the world until in 1930 the population became so low with so few able bodied men they could no longer sustain themselves and they chose to leave. In 1957, the entire archipelago was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland and has been in their ownership and protection ever since.

This was a significant number taken from the small population on Soay Island. Today flocks survive in both locations. 

Visitors to St Kilda will immediately notice three striking features of the sheep.

First, Soay sheep are tiny. In August, mature females average around 24kg in weight while mature males are around 38kg, making them about one third the size of most modern domestic sheep and shrinking !

Second, they are highly variable in appearance. While many Soays have the ‘classic’ Soay coat colour, which we call ‘dark wild’ (with ‘wild’ being short for ‘wildtype’ the coat pattern that features a light belly and rump patch), we recognise three other varieties (‘dark self’, ‘light wild(type)’ and ‘light self’ (where ‘self’ refers to ‘self-coloured’ – a coat pattern with the same colour all over including belly and rump patch). 

Studies have shown that the dark/light colouration is due to a gene called tyrosinase-related protein 1, or TYRP1 which is on sheep chromosome 2 and genetically dark is dominant to light, while the wild/self colouration is due to the locus Agouti on sheep chromosome 13 and wild is dominant to self. 

 There are however, very cute Soay sheep with white patches as well. (note: in angora rabbits for example there is the agouti on chromosome 13 as well, making the off spring able to have all different colours. Agouti is a gorgeous thing to have in the gene pool !).

The University of Edinburg is doing a lot of research on these soay sheep because it offers them a very good insight in the ecology and the evolution of the species. A count of the whole of Hirta’s Soay sheep population has been conducted most years since 1952 by the same method. 

It was these counts that revealed that Soay sheep on St Kilda have rather unusual population dynamics. The Soay population rises to maxima and then crashes, at irregular intervals. It is this population dynamic behaviour that makes Soay sheep so interesting for ecologists. The sheep exhibit a phenomenon known as overcompensatory density dependence, in which their population never reaches equilibrium. 

The population growth is so great as to exceed the carrying capacity of the island, which eventually causes a dramatic population crash, and then the cycle repeats. For example, in 1989, the population fell by two thirds within 12 weeks !! 

In brief, it became clear that the population dynamics of Soay sheep happen because virtually all mature females conceive each year, regardless of density, and as a result, the population can increase in one breeding season to a size which greatly exceeds the winter carrying capacity, when it may crash. Crashes are more likely to occur when there is bad winter weather, and when the population contains a large proportion of vulnerable sheep such as lambs and males. The population then increases again, over several years, before another crash. 

As ecological research proceeded, it became clear that the Soay sheep population also offers remarkable opportunities for understanding the progress of natural selection and evolution in real time. Population crashes are a period of intense selection, could they have anything to do with the maintenance of genetic variation, for example in coat colour and horn type? Does the low life expectancy of most individuals select for early reproductive effort? Likewise, the population dynamics research inspires numerous questions about the relationship between the sheep and their biotic environment, including the plants on which they feed and the parasites.

The Soay sheep have short tails and naturally shed their wool, which can be hand plucked (called rooing) in the spring and early summer. About one kilogram of wool can be obtained from each animal per year. 

The breed lacks the flocking instinct of many breeds. Attempts to work them using sheep dogs result in a scattering of the group: no use entering them at the Bendigo sheep and wool show dog trials: it would be extremely frustrating for the sheep and dogs. They obviously are the rebels among sheep !

These sheep are extremely special and it inspired me to do a rare sheep breed adventure blend named OUTLANDER, hence its name , because I am a fan of the books and the series…and because the Soay sheep , although hairier, are pretty darn cute. I have some naked Outlander tops as well and then there are all the different colourways, fresh out of the dyepots available as well on the IxCHeL shop.

have fun exploring the Outlander tops and more this week on www.ixchel.com.au and hop to the what’s new section on the shop. I have also been updating the blog section there and there are more photos and info to be seen on there (blogger has thrown some tech difficulties at me which makes uploading photos extremely time consuming in this platform. Time I’d rather spend spinning, weaving, knitting and crocheting).

happy spinning and crafting !

big hugs

Charly

Seaweed and rare breed sheep

  

New colourway "Metamorphosis" on North Ronaldsay blend tops

Happy weekend everybody  and since today is Valentine’s Day : All you need is Fluff, Yarn and Love ! Love what you do, love yourself and if you have that special person, well, love them too 💕

It was another super full on week here with loads of blending, carding and dyeing and spinning! The February clubs are all dyed and almost dry and this weekend the carding of all the club batts will begin. Shipping will happen mid next week and I am super excited to show you teasers early next week so keep your eyes peeled.

i have also signed up again for the absolutely fabulous handknitters guild of Victoria YARN SHOW at the Merribek (Coburg) town hall, Melbourne, planned on Saturday May 31st and June 1st ! So please put it in your calendar to come visit us at our colourful super fluffy stall ! All you need is fluff  and love! The next few months are going to be super SUPER  busy for sure with new sock yarns, handspun and fabulous lace yarns too ! 

Confession time: I  have to come clean about something else as well : when I had my cardiac arrest in 2019, I hit the kitchen floor so hard that my right hip and back sustained some damage. I of course kept on going since my heart was the main issue and had to get that fixed, but ever since that faitful day, my back and hip is extremely painful.As usual, I keep on going, but I am now at a point that I am experiencing pretty high pain levels on a daily basis and I can hardly walk straight. I  am starting to feel like a version of the hunchback of Notre Dame but without the bell ringing🤣 I am trying to keep up the weekly updates and spinning and clubs, but I am no longer capable of doing big shows anymore. I am still going to be at the handknitters guild show which is planned for Saturday May 31st and Sunday june 1st at the Coburg town hall. My plan is to offer you heaps of new handspun yarns and handdyed fibres again together with lots of new spindles and bowls from lair of the bearded dragon and special DRAGON TURKISH SPINDLES ! It’s all happening!

Today's update is all about a very special rare breed sheep on the Scottish Isle of North Ronaldsay and there are loads of new colourways as well to feast your eyes on: Metamorphosis, Purple Rain, Stromness, Brig o Doon and also some new natural dyed Japanese indigo tops!

The North Ronaldsay Sheep are the only animals in the world, aside from a certain Galapagos lizard, to be able to subsist entirely on seaweed, leading to its nickname ‘seaweed sheep’.  The breed is thought to be over 5000 years old. The breed is farmed within the Northern Ronaldsay Islands, Orkney and kept nearby the seashore for most of the year. In 1832 the Laird of North Ronaldsay decided that his pastureland should not be wasted on native sheep and a dyke was built round the island to keep them on the shore and off the land. It was most probably this separation that resulted in the preservation of the North Ronaldsay, as it prevented cross breeding which had been the downfall of other Orkney sheep.  

The North Ronaldsay is one of the Northern Short tailed primitive group of breeds that also includes the Manx Loghtan, Soay, Shetland and Icelandic .  The North Ronaldsay is still mainly found on its native island, the northernmost of the Orkneys. The sheep keeping system on North Ronaldsay is unique and involves a stone wall which keeps the sheep on the seashore and away from the cultivated land for most of the year. This wall was built in 1832 and since then the breed has evolved to survive primarily on seaweed. The sheep live on the seashore most of the year around and are only  brought onto the better land for lambing.

The North Ronaldsay is one of group of primitive Northern Short-tailed sheep and represents a very early stage in the evolution of domestic sheep. DNA studies have shown a close relationship to sheep found in the Stone Age village of Skara Brae on mainland Orkney, which dates from 3000 BC. In 1832 a wall was built around their native island to confine the animals to the foreshore for most of the year in order to conserve the inland grazing. Since then the breed has developed its distinctive metabolism due to its diet of seaweed, which also renders it susceptible to copper poisoning under standard sheep management systems. North Ronaldsays are very sensitive to copper and will die of copper toxicity if put on the wrong type of grazing. This is due to their seaweed diet and the unique metabolism they have evolved.  They should not be fed commercial sheep mixes as despite the label saying “No Added Copper” the normal ingredients used will often have a background level high enough to be toxic (ten parts per million is too high). The North Ronaldsay is capable of  surviving on less than larger breeds and is an active browser, used to ranging over long distances in search of food.

Colours of their fleece are variable: including white, various shades of grey, black and moorit (deep brown). The double fleece has coarse outer guard hairs and a fine soft inner coat. I have never ever felt and dyed something as extraordinary as this sheeps fleece. It is springy, almost feels moist even after its scouring and washing. It almost feels like it resists the dye when you pour the pigments on and everything immediately flows to the bottom, leaving the top layer of the fibre springy and almost without dye. At least, that is what appears to happen…it takes the dye beautifully and retains its springy texture and openness.

 

After all of the cleaning and carding and blending you get what I am offering you today !

 It is a dream to spin and work with. You can make a yarn that is strong and still soft to wear. It is very very special !  There are only about 600 of these seaweed sheep left in the world. Only through our effort of conservation of the environment and conservation through appreciation of this rare breed by spinning and knitting its fleece, can we hold on to one of the oldest and most special breeds in the world alive today.

You can check everything out in the what's new section on the IxCHeL shop by clicking here. 

Have a fantastic weekend filled with lots of creative fibre fun !

Big hugs,

Charly

 

 

Heart and Soul

 

When asked “what is your job”, a multitude of thoughts race through my brain. How do I explain what I do, especially to someone who is unfamiliar with me, or anything that I do at all, to people like  bank managers or official government entities. No matter how I try and phrase it, it never seems either enough..or too much..or doesn’t reflect what I do at all. Especially when dealing with drop down choices, where the only option offered that was in any way shape or form related to what i do was “art director”?  Lol

To say I dye and paint doesn’t cover everything either. I feel like an imposter saying I’m an “artist”, which is weird, because on a day to day basis I strive to be one: always learning, trying to be better at everything I do and connect feelings and meaning to colours and forms. “Artist” does not appear on any drop down choice I have seen though and maybe that’s because, well, it’s not considered a “job” but rather something you pour your heart and soul into, which doesn’t necessarily reward you with a good income. Reward yes, income…not so much…lol  it’s super hard to keep going just because of that, but there comes a time you come to the realisation that there is nothing else you’d rather do. How do you explain that to a banker  ?  

Anyway, that were just a few brainwaves of this week, while I was prepping and dyeing heaps of fibre for this update, while also trying to get my head around taxes. I know what I’d rather be doing and it ain’t taxes🤣

So, the January clubs have been shipped last month and I have just posted heaps of photos on my socials, so please have a look and a read. I have also opened up the sign ups for the art journey club nxt quarter, starting in April. The prepping and dyeing of the February clubs have already begun so keep an eye on my Instagram, Facebook, threads and Bluesky socials for any hints on what the artwork is, which inspired the colourway of the February clubs.

This weeks update is a special blend of Ouessant sheep with bfl and cashmere. The colours of the Ouessant sheep are a variety of browns so the blend is very interesting to dye. Dye in or rather over dyeing on a base of coloured fibres is absolutely wonderful: it creates a depth of colour and tonal values that you simply do not get on a bright white. 

I love dyeing tops that have different coloured fleeces in them: it is magical ! spinning this blend will give you a gorgeous heathered and saturated, magical colour play yarn, that is soft and suitable to close to skin wear with a gorgeous drape.

 

 

Located 12 miles off the French coast in the Sea of Iroise, the island of Ouessant (or Ushant in English) is the original homeland of Ouessant Sheep. 

 Ouessant sheep are the most primitive of the native French breeds. For centuries, they were raised in isolation on the island where they played an integral part of the self-sufficient closed economy, providing both wool and meat. By the end of the 18th century there were over 6,000 sheep on the island of Ouessant. But economic improvements along with a move toward modernization at the beginning of the 19th century radically changed the future prospects of this small primitive breed. fortunately, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of wealthy families imported small numbers of traditional Ouessant sheep to the French mainland to graze the lands around their estates. 

Ultimately, this seemingly insignificant event insured the survival of the breed. Today, Ouessant sheep are sought after both as companion animals and as “environmentally-friendly lawn mowers”. 

They have also gained a certain amount of popularity in several different European countries : Most notably Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. 

A member of the Northern European Short-Tailed breeds, Ouessant sheep are distant cousins of the Shetland and Icelandic breeds. The two most distinctive features of Ouessant sheep are their size and their color. 

Considered by many to be the smallest breed of sheep in the world, adult ewes measure less than 18″ (46cm) at the shoulders and rams are under 20″ (50cm). 

Additionally, Ouessant sheep come in a number of different colors : Including black, white, brown, and grey. It is true that the small size of Ouessant sheep contributes to the breed’s characteristic charm and appeal. However, their diminutive size also means that the breed is not commercially viable in the modern world of agricultural production. In fact, one of the primary objectives for breeding Ouessant sheep today is the preservation and conservation of the rare genetic resources that are found in the breed. 

Despite their small size, these charming little sheep produce a particularly beautiful and versatile wool. Ouessant sheep have a distinctive double-coated fleece with an average fibre diameter of 23 microns and, on average, fleeces weigh approximately 750 grams. 

For the handspinner, this variation presents a unique opportunity : From one small flock of Ouessant sheep it is possible to produce wool that can be used for a wide variety of projects, ranging from lace shawls to hats, cardigans, and even rugs. 

 I have taken great care to only select the finest of the Ouessant fibre and blending that with the shiny Blue faced Leicester and cashmere  to create a beautiful heathered effect when dyed.

You can find all the new Ouessant bfl cashmere tops here on the IxCHeL shop: www.ixchel.com.au/products/ouessant-bfl-cashmere

Have a wonderful weekend and happy spinning !

((hugs))

Charly