Soay Fleece Part I

 

The Soay sheep breed is one of the oldest sheep breeds going back at least 4000 years to the island of Soay off the west coast of Scotland. It is a very rare breed of sheep and I have spent at least 2 years trying to find a fleece to spin. Last year at the NY sheep and wool festival I got to meet 2 fantastic Soay sheep and their shepherds.

 

This handsome fellow is Aragorn. He was so beautiful and friendly!! I was able to pet him and he even let me touch his very impressive horns!!! He was a bottle fed sheep so he is really used to humans touching him. This picture was taken with my old crappy camera and the beautiful color of his fleece does not at all come through in this picture. He lives at Cairn O' Mohr farm and his fantastic shepherds were able to hook me up with 3lbs of fantastic wool from their flock.

It is interesting to note that Soay do not need to be shorn since they shed their wool.

 

 

I was a little nervous when I got the wool in the mail. The fiber is BEAUTIFUL and has hardly any vegetable matter in it, but the locks are so small! I guess I will be carding this wool and not combing it. Still I think it will make something really wonderful.

 

Here is a few ounces after it has been washed. There is a bit of scurf on some of the locks (a type of dandruff some sheep get), but it is not so bad. I have a few more things to finish up before I start spinning this but I can hardly wait. Even though I have 3 lbs of this wool I plan on spinning most of it on a drop spindle. Since it is a very period breed it will be an excellent wool to bring to events and demos where people can watch me spin it.

 

I took a little bit of fiber and spun it right from the clean locks. It was not difficult at all, the wool is really "sticky" so I don't think it will be difficult to spin up even with the tiny lock size. There are a few of the locks next to the spindle so you can see how small they are. It is all part of the fun of working with different breeds of sheep.

 

I will put aside some unspun locks, 25 yards of spun yarn, and a small woven sample for the arts and science project. I plan to use some to weave up some Viking leg wraps for my son, and I will decide what else to make based on how much yarn I am able to spin from this 3 lb bag. If I spin it all on the drop spindle I will have a long time to decide :)