Wheely Wooly Farm: Lil' Rainbow's Socks

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.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Lil' Rainbow's Socks

Well, here they are! Lil' Rainbow's socks, that I've been waiting for since I bought her summer of '09. Lil' Rainbow is a very sweet ewe with excellent conformation; except for her toothy smile! She has a black head, black legs, and a "ghostly" fleece covering her body. Her fiber is black, with grays and whites mixed in, giving it a blue-ish hue from a distance that is remarkably cool to look at! She adds a lot of color to our flock, and stands out as a visitor favorite, for nearly no one has seen such remarkable color in local, commercial sheep! Actually, she brings gasps, people are so surprised. The Shetland word used to describe her color is actually a Norse word: iset. The colorful Shetland sheep are mostly given color description names that root out of the Norwegian language, for many of the people on the Shetland Islands stretch back to family ties in Norway. My guess (this is just a personal guess!) is that the sheep have such ancestry as well.

Anyway, Lil' Rainbow has this remarkable color to her fleece that would look so nice with jeans! So I couldn't WAIT to shear her and begin spinning!

Lil' Rainbow's Sock with crocheted flower

Below is a photo of her the day after she arrived on our farm. She was a purely spontaneous purchase from a shepherd looking to move into other breeds of sheep. (named after the rainbow we enjoyed the day we bought her, and for the line she's out of) She is perfect size, had been well cared for and was very healthy! She has been the "cleanest" acquisition to our farm we've ever had. She also came with some emotional sadness, for she had lost her little lamb the prior spring. Despite her toothy smile, we bred her to Wheely Wooly Lerwick in hopes of twins from her next spring. I didn't think I''d ever breed her because of that smile, but her fleece convinced me to change my mind! She is also VERY hardy, cheap to feed, and very sweet. She passes all of our picky criteria, EXCEPT that SMILE! :) Notice her perfectly straight topline! I like!

Lil' Rainbow recently sheared; summer of 2009

In the above photo, she was wearing a bell, just in case she jumped the fence and took off. Bells...handy things!!

Lil' Rainbow in full fleece; spring of 2010

By the time spring rolled around, I was drooling with anticipation! She has the classic "soft, fine textured, longish and wavy" fleece our breed standard requires us to maintain. Her fleece draped to her knees and was about 5 1/2 inches long all together, with neck wool slightly shorter, britch being slightly longer.

Close-up of Lil' Rainbow's midside fiber on the hoof

Her fiber has coarser ends, giving her remarkable hardiness. Her fleece sheds water like a duck! Underneath is extremely fine, black softness that makes you pause with surprise! It has very light handle and is very responsive yarn! FUN!!!! I sheared her myself, then washed the fleece. It barely had time to dry before I was spinning it! The skeins I didn't keep for myself all quickly sold in summer. I only have enough for myself to make socks, but I have it!

So while I was working on these socks, Swifty was getting more things to do. Pretty soon, our psychotic Border Collie was getting back to normal and things were calming down around here!

Good boy, Swifty!

I couldn't WAIT to try the socks on! I love to knit in the round on double-pointed needles! It is very relaxing and easy. Here, I just have to close up the toe with the kitchener stitch....very easy once you get the swing of it.

I absolutely LOVE the color dynamic! These are no ordinary, plain socks! Yet they are not the dizzying colors we are all enjoying lately, either! The color is bright, yet subtle; harmonious, peaceful. I like that! It will also never fade, bleed, or wash out...meaning the color will look nice for a very, very long time! I like that, too!

I'm thinking of crocheting a pretty edge along the top of the cuff just for fun. We'll see! The crocheted flower (from our Shetland ewe Iris) is my exclusive design created right here on Wheely Wooly Farm! They make such wonderful accent pieces, add a very nice touch, and are very popular! Iris's flowers have whitish yarn with grey undertones, perfect for harmonious matching with iset fibers! Have I mentioned how much I love Shetland sheep and their fiber????

Now it's your turn! A knit-along has been suggested, but I've never done anything like that! And I don't think I'd be much help knitting socks on circulars. I LOVE circular needles and use them a lot, but I knit my socks on wooden doublepoints. Any suggestions on how to get a knit-along going?

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What is Shetland Fiber?

Wheely Wooly Farm strives to breed for wool as described on the historic 1927 Breed Standard, which was created and written in the Shetland Islands. Our breeding stock exhibits fleece just as the Standard demands of us: extra fine, soft texture, longish, wavy, and well closed. Our fleeces will have short, crimpy neck wool, longish and wavy midside wool, with little or no crimp in the even longer britch wool. This historic fleece type gives you a wide range of textile capabilities, of which is well documented, photographed, and archived in the Shetland Island Museum (see link below).

Shetland fiber does not carry much "grease", making it easy to wash. Because of it's soft texture and fineness, it does not felt easily, making it great for socks! Stockings (socks, sometimes covering up over the knee) in fact, were one of the primary famed textiles produced. Stockings were just one of many types of textiles that were subjected to inspections, receiving a stamp of approval before they could be sold. Shetland fleeces are desired by hand spinners for long, easy to spin, tiny fibers. The longish, wavy midside wool easily drafts out of your hand in a way you won't forget!

We do not breed for the modern milling goals which claim wavy means crimpy, or that longish means short, as written by an organization outside of the Shetland Islands in modern times. Read why in our June 30, 2011 blog entry.

We also do not micron test our fleeces. Micron testing has been a useful tool in most other sheep breeds, but most other breeds produce wool for carpet, industrial flame-proof clean up cloths, lining for firefighter gear, or insulation for highly flammable vehicles such as trains and airplanes. We feel mircon testing takes the emphasis off the handle of the fleece, which goes against making good selections for breeding in one of the world's premier hand spinning/hand knitting/garment breeds.

We are confident our careful breeding program, adherance to the historic 1927 Breed Standard guidelines, and our textile skills will provide you with the utmost quality of fine fleeces and yarns, so you can enjoy a truly Shetland experience!

"...your wool has made a great diaper cover for our 3 month old son. It's nice to know he is wearing a truly natural product! Big smile and Thank you!" Michelle

"I made mittens with Wheely Wooly Yarn, then put them in a silent auction. They sold for $250! Thanks for making such beautiful yarn!" Lisa

Angela wrote us:

"I could not stop myself enjoying your yarn and already finished my first project which will go to my friend...thank you"!

Bill stopped at our booth and said:

"My wife made the hat I wanted from your natural colors and I love it! Makes winter seem not so bad!

Our Farm

Our family farm is located on a hill in the lush prairie lands of east, central Wisconsin, where we enjoy four distinct seasons and a seemingly endless supply of summer grasses, except in drought! We are surrounded by old oak forests, bountiful spring woodland flowers, quiet roads, and clean quiet lakes with a popular river nearby for fishing. We started a flock of sheep several years ago, deciding to breed up our own lambs for flock growth. Heritage hens grace our chicken coop, providing us with fresh eggs and garden companionship. A raspberry patch planted near the coop gives us plentiful berries for the winter. The hens are superb weeders under the canes, which we much appreciate. Two horses graze down the extra grass ahead of the sheep, one being a very cute black and white pony. We also keep two dairy does for fresh milk and yogurt. Behind our historic 1800's white farmhouse we've planted a vegetable garden. Each year, we can't imagine winter without our tomatoes, peas, peppers, potatoes, onions, soup beans, pumpkins, zucchini, sunflowers, and cucumbers. Two geese have now been employed as weeders there, Pomander the Gander and Hyssop the Goose. A separate garden does it's best to contain exuberant mounds of herbs. Lavender also grows there. To the west are two standard apple trees, to the north a treasured pear tree and an even more treasured peach tree to the south! The barns are patrolled by two feline guards, who sleuth around corners and stake out holes. We treasure them! Each morning, we rise to the crows of our robust roosters. We'll never tire of that! Our work days are long here, with challenges popping up all the time, but it can all be solved in a hurry with a tall cold glass of water in the shade of our old-fashioned front porch!

How we manage our flock

Our flock of purebred Shetland sheep, one dairy ewe, and one wether who thinks he's a pet dog do not leave our farm except for educational purposes with youth groups in non-agricultural settings. Most of the flock has been carefully selected from small, private, non-traveling flocks over a period of years. We no longer take sheep to shows due to disease pressure, nor do we allow in transit sheep, loan out our animal transport vehicles, haul livestock, or allow animals to hold over at our farm. As a result, our flock has become soundly biosecure, with dramatically less exposure and risk for disease. All incoming additions are extensively quarantined and checked for disease. This assures our future lamb buyers of sound, healthy stock. I shear nearly all of our flock myself (another component to biosecurity) with hand blades when the rise is right (usually late May to early June), unless I'm excited for a particular fleece (which means re-shearing mid-summer). Neck wool is typically rooed, continuing throughout the fleece as the sheep is ready. Each sheep is named, halter trained, and tamed. Our rams are very personable, friendly, verbally interactive, respectful, and not afraid. We do not believe a terrified ram is healthy on any farm!! We never touch them on the top of their horns/heads, nor do we EVER use their horns as handlebars unless it's an absolute dire emergency. We keep extensive wool and health records. Fleeces on hoof are checked frequently so that we may keep a watchful eye on the health of our sheep, and what we're producing. The sheep are rotationally grazed April through October, then penned for winter. Each night, they are run into our large pole building for predator security. They also stay penned in the shed during wicked winter storms, or if the pastures are too wet in spring, never in mud. It's all a lot of work, but it's done so that we can assure our customers with the utmost biosecurity and quality in your purchases!

International Show Your Shawl Day
Show the world how beautiful your shawls
are by wearing them for the day! Have you knit

a beautiful shawl, but it's in storage somewhere

'cause you're afraid to wear it?

Has someone gifted a special shawl to you

for a special reason, but you're afraid to wear

it? Well girls! It's time to take them out, show

them off, talk about them, share them,

and put them to use!

Mark your calendars for the next date!

Coming October 14, 2017!!

We changed the date from September to October to coincide with our sale on beautiful Wheely Wooly Farm Wraps! We'll need them, for it'll be cold!

Shetland Sheep: Rich in History, Rich in Textiles

Monday, December 20, 2010

Lil' Rainbow's Socks

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