Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles! Our farm mission is to enjoy and promote the wonderful diversity of the Shetland breed by fully utilizing to the best of our ability all they have to offer historically. We believe the best preservation and management of this breed includes it's full spectrum of history. We encourage old and new shepherds alike to join in the fun by engaging in fiber arts, especially spinning and knitting, as this breed is so intimately linked with those aspects of the arts.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Wheely Wooly Tassel


Wheely Wooly Tassel

Handsome fellow, isn't he?  This is Tassel, a Shetland ram lamb in our flock.  We don't keep all of our rams, but a few have been kept to see how they will grow out.  Tassel has rich color to his fleece and it is very soft and luxurious.  That rich color is permanent and is not only beautiful in your knitting, but is excellent for knitting with other colors, helping them pop!  He was sheared at the end of summer.  His twin, Tammy, is a lovely moorit (chocolatey brown).  Tammy was named for the type of hats (i.e. tams) knitted in and south of the Shetland Islands.  Both have excellent density of fibers, bright expressions, straight toplines and nice fluke Shetland tails.  And how 'bout those gorgeous horns...quite a crown of glory!

Behind Tassel is Smily...without the e before the y so his name would fit on his eartag.  Smily is not a purebred Shetland so he will have a different type of fiber, of which we are also very excited to get.  He has not been sheared yet, and won't be now until spring.

If you are looking for high performance yarns that are very pleasant to knit or crochet with, and even more pleasant to wear, visit us at the farm market and pick up some of the best yarn around!  Wheely Wooly Farm yarns also make great gifts for that special knitter or crocheter in your life! 

I'll leave you with the best photo ever from our farm, that of Tassel's sire enjoying his own Thanksgiving treat!

Yes, his nose is completely inside the pumpkin, as far as his horns would allow!

A special note added in here a few days after posting this...it seems some old followers of my blog have been reminiscing and re-reading some of my old posts of 2011.  On November 16, 2011, I wrote notes about our fall breeding thoughts.  I went back and re-read it myself, and it still amuses me!  It is so much fun to go back and re-read these old posts and re-visit the pictures.  We still breed for the older style fleeces, and with the nasty winters we've had in the last decade (breaking every winter record I didn't realize existed), we are even bigger believers in the right fleece for the climate.  And with a house full of fiber busy bodies, the variety within fleeces has given us endless fun over years of time, and we feel like there is still so much ahead of us we'd like to do.  Our flock had now reached a point where we are at our limit, and still barely meeting demand.  This has occurred during a time when we have been losing competitors every year as other farms and shops close up.

If you are new to our farm blog, make a hot cup of coffee or tea, put your feet up, and take a look back at some of our old stuff, for you might enjoy what you find!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and hope you enjoy pumpkin pie as much as the sheep do!