Wheely Wooly Farm: January 2017

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.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Shetland Wool Socks

Greetings all! Hope you are getting through this rather mild January and all your knitting projects! It seems this month that our sock blogs are very popular. Search back in our archives for blogs about socks. Shetland sheep produce wonderful wool for socks! If you haven't made any socks out of Shetland wool, try it! The wool off our sheep has been a real pleasure to spin, knit, and wear.

One blog you can quickly find is from August 2012. In it, I blogged about our ewe Lacey and her wool. I still have those socks! They went on to win us blue ribbons as somehow, I knit that one pair without one mistake, which is definitely not typical for me. Socks are wonderful things in that you can make mistakes because they rarely interfere with the integrity of the socks, and if they are for yourself, you can decide if it's worth the time to rip them back...or not! lol

Anyhoo, when knitting for judging, perfect is best. I had no idea if the judges would like my socks or not, but that's why you enter in the first place! It's a great way to see how you are doing and get some feedback.

We hope you will take some time to either knit some socks for yourself and those you know, or learn how! It is a great and handy skill, but I must warn you....that is if you have yet to learn how....that once you can do it, people will be pestering you for socks forever on!

Happy sock knitting everyone!

P.S. Our other sheep also produce wool that is wonderful in socks. We seek a certain quality of wool and if a sheep doesn't have that, we wouldn't own it! It's hard to find good sock wool, but you can find it here on Wheely Wooly Farm. You can either email us, or seek us out at the farm market come summer.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Happy New Year!

How 'bout some nice color to start off the new year?

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you had a nice holiday break...knitting or crocheting we hope! lol This year, we are skipping our typical annual new year's post as we sort of did that already a few posts back. This has been the biggest year Wheely Wooly Farm has seen yet and we were quite delighted to collapse at the end and take a break!

Can I do that?

lol

Ok, we can't quite go that far in taking a break, as the sheep still need tending, chores still need doing, and we've got our work lined up and waiting. In fact, we are behind on some things so we've decided, after hard thought, to delay returning to market until June. Our inventory is very low and things need doing around the farm so it was decided that to be our best, we better take the time it takes to get things supplied well again.

So this year, we've tried some new things, one of which is shearing more lambs in early fall. Some of that fiber has already hit the sales table and is gone already, such as some of Peerielyn and Lil' Dipper, but Motif's yarn is finished, Tassel's yarn is nearly done, and Bobble is on the wheel right now. Lincoln was sheared and will be soon spun, and others, so watch for these lovely fleeces come spring! Speaking of Bobble, he's the little guy that nearly froze to death, and had to ride along in the truck to town one day...see a few posts back for his story. Well Bobble's fiber is simple sensational! It's being spun up quite finely and will be outstandingly suitable for very special lace. His fiber is incredibly soft and fine, being lamb's wool and Shetland, and the most outstanding natural black you might ever find! This hard to find and incredible yarn will be for sale separately, and there is very little to sell...and I won't have more! Bobble, by the way, is spending his winter hanging out with BuzzBuzz...and what a pair they are! Pure mischief.

Very popular headbands designed and created by Wheely Wooly Farm...and sold out by September.

Other news to report from the year is that we had the opportunity to connect with some of our farm's "ancestors" this year, through a chance meeting. Through this fortuitous meeting, we received some exciting documents on the beginnings of this farm and we are truly amazed at what we have learned! After that day, we have taken time to learn more and what an amazing journey that has been!

In October, we welcomed a new barn cat to the farm, except she's not in the barn yet! lol She was obtained by calling a local program called the TNR Program, which stands for trap, neuter and release. We'll write more about her in the months to come! She's beautiful and unique so we can't wait to show you pictures of her! Cats are required around here, and are very useful farm employees. One morning last fall, I opened the curtains to find Paws (another barn kitty we have) high up in the willow tree, swatting at his tail hanging down behind and under him! It became a morning of instant giggling...how often does one get to start the day like that?!?

And this year, our products travelled farther and wider into the world that we could have ever imagined...going as far away as Israel, Qatar, Japan, and Africa, and more!

There is so much more to 2016, but it's time to get going. Thank you to all our wonderful customers and friends who make Wheely Wooly Farm such a fulfilling success! Without you, we couldn't do it all! We are working hard to bring you so much more great yarn and ideas for your projects, gifts and garments in 2017! Happy New Year everyone and happy knitting!

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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!