Wheely Wooly Farm: September 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.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Lacy Scarves

These lovely lacy scarves are waiting just for you! New this year is a larger selection with more colors available to meet your style and gift giving needs. These light scarves are very classy. They dress up beautifully for fancier events or occasions. Also suitable for indoors at work, out for dinner, or simply a trip to the grocery store. Dress up or in jeans, these scarves go where you need them to! Easily handwashed, priced by weight. Bloom your style with these elegant lace scarves by Wheely Wooly Farm!

Monday, September 25, 2017

"A Garden of Yarn"!

Enjoy the 100% Wheelspun Yarns from Wheely Wooly Farm and bring color into your winter days! Suitable for a vast array of patterns from garments, gifts, toys and more, be sure to brighten the cold days ahead with something special from Wheely Wooly Farm!

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Embellish!

Claire's 100% Wheelspun Yarn in Glacier

w/ Bobbin's Moorit Flowers

Spark your creativity with Embellishments! new from Wheely Wooly Farm!! Choose from an assortment of of pompoms, flowers, bows, tassels and adorable buttons, all made from 100% Wheelspun Yarns in an assortment of pretty colors. Pre-made, each quickly and easily attaches to anything you want with two ties at the back, old projects or new! Visit our new Embellish! page on our website for more details and price list by clicking on the link to the right. Pick some up this weekend and start embellishing your life!

Monday, September 11, 2017

Cats are smart! They know where the warmth and style is...

Wheely Wooly Farm is running a special FALL SALE on Wraps...15% OFF!! As the weather turns cool and the leaves skitter across the streets, wrap yourself in style! Our wraps enhance any style you like to wear, any jewelry you like. We can almost guarantee you will get compliments on these lovely wraps!!

Made with 100% Wheelspun Yarns in natural and dyed colors, easily handwashed when needed, very versatile. Add quality and style to your wardrobe today! Hurry, sale ends soon!!

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Honorary Sheep Dog gets a new sweater!

Meet Annabelle, Wheely Wooly's First Honorary Sheep Dog!

She is wearing her brand new dog sweater, embellished with pink flowers, tassels and trim.

A belly band buttons on each side with a cute green button.

The front piece protects her from snow or cold winds, and helps the sweater sit nicely.

Annabelle's Honorary Sheep Dog story can be found on a post from long ago. I'll look back and insert the date here sometime soon, so you can look back at it if you'd like. Annabelle, who's ten years old already, just had a major surgery and a bit of a tough recovery, but she is progressing nicely.

Her new sweater is made from ewe Peppermint's yarn, dyed in a beautiful violet color (there are two currently left in that color for sale, as well as other colors). The trim, flowers and tassels are made from Misty's Pink Poodle yarn. The design of the sweater is completely made up as the crocheting went along type of thing, with frequent fittings. It's made in two main pieces with a band that goes from the chest, under the belly and up the two sides for securing. Annabelle is not one to pull things off so bows, buttons, flowers, and tassels are safe for her.

Speaking of embellishments such as bows, buttons, etc...Wheely Wooly Farm is about to spark your creativity in a very fun way, so watch for what's coming before the next market!!

UPDATE: The Honorary Sheep Dog post about Annabelle was written on March 10th, 2010...yes, that's 2010! It's titled "Annabelle's Promotion". Going back and reading the early years of the farm blog cracks the head shepherdess up! What great stuff!! Don't miss out on all the great sheep photos, Swifty as a puppy, and gorgeous fiber!

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Oh no...

To our customers, their families, and everyone else in the Florida area, we are very worried about you, too!! We know you are leaving or getting ready to wait it out, busy getting ready for this incredible storm...our hearts are with you! Please stay safe!! If you don't make it up to our area like some of you did last year, we will miss you and worry...

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Geese All Grown

Beautiful Beautiful Geese!

The geese on Wheely Wooly Farm are not for hobby purposes, rather they are valued farm employees. Consider them the vacuum cleaners of the pastures, gleaning nutrition from what modern cultures have been taught to think of as just empty space in need of something. Why do we mention anything about the geese? Well, it's because nothing in nature works by itself...everything is connected. Without the geese, the sheep would not be as healthy. Sheep that are not as healthy grow poorer quality wool. So you can see, we are much in love with our geese, as they help keep the sheep healthy, so that we have bounteous amounts of beautiful wool!!

If you are looking to get started with geese, we would carefully consider selling one pair. Just email if you are interested (see the link on the right side of the blog.)

Friday, September 1, 2017

Beatrice's Lovely Cream!

Beatrice has a lovely cream color to her yarn that is natural. We often dye her yarns into very pretty colors, but her natural color is equally lovely! Wilbur is available again, but in a small quantity. His color is amazing! New dyed colors are also coming, such as our new French Lavender. With hundreds of skeins to choose from, you are sure to find something you love!

If you cannot make it to our market booth Saturday mornings, don't worry! Simply head to our website by clicking on the link to the right, then click the pink Farm Shop oval. Once in the shop, you can browse all the pretty yarns there! We ship anywhere in the continental U.S.!

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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!