This speaking engagement came about rather unexpectedly. Bruce and I have been planning a trip to the Highlands of Scotland in the summer, and I’ve been looking at all things wool throughout the country. I came across a mention of the Perth festival and noticed the note about the Scottish Wool Producers Showcase. It’s a much smaller gathering than the fall festival, but I thought perhaps a good opportunity to make contact with crofters husbanding rare and endangered breeds. I got a quick response back from my request for information, and I couldn’t say no to the opportunity when the head of the festival asked me to speak about my wool adventures. I’ll be talking about my love affair with Swedish conservation breeds, and my plans to work with Scottish breeds as well.

One of the first things I did in planning the summer trip was to start looking at the websites of the various charities supporting the continuation of the various endangered breeds. I was hoping to see if I could find individuals to visit on our trip. Of course the sheep breed that captured my attention was the North Ronaldsay.

Ronaldsay sheep are from Ronaldsay Island, the northernmost of the Orkneys. Related to other European short-tailed sheep, these hardy animals may have been in Scotland as early as the Iron Age (between 1200 and 600 BCE). Over time, the human inhabitants of the island built walls around the arable land, confining the sheep to the shoreline and reducing their diet to seaweed. Amazingly, the sheep adapted, and still can be found on the island as feral flocks. DNA analysis of bones of contemporary Ronaldsay have been compared to bones from the Neolithic site of Skara Brae (also in the Orkneys) and show that these sheep have really not mixed with other breeds.

Ronaldsay are double-coated sheep, with a fine and soft undercoat, and a coarse, long outer coat that protects them from from the harsh elements. Though small, these sheep were raised primarily for their wool (apparently the meat is a bit strong in flavor).

I had vowed that I wouldn’t be buying yarn this year (and so far I haven’t…yet). That hasn’t prevented me from locating a fleece from a Ronaldsay breeder. It’s on its way here now, and so I’ll be writing about that in a future post. I had also been insisting that I wouldn’t process any more fleece. I do enjoy spinning, but not the washing, picking and carding bits. Oh well…famous last words! I’ll try to channel my friend Josefin when the fleece arrives and make it a character-building exercise to take this from sheep to yarn. I’m guessing the cats will find it interesting to have a smelly animal thing in the bathtub, and will want to be involved.

Meanwhile…

I’m nearly finished knitting my sweater of hand spun yarns, but will wait a bit longer to post photos. It has been a truly fun project that has had me back and forth to the wheel to spin more and then knit what I spin as soon as the yarns are finished. I’ve enjoyed the knit-spin-knit-spin cycles which appeal to my short attention span. I’m getting close to the end of the available fleece (coming primarily from the 2020 12 Days of Christmas fleece from Inglenook Fibers), so a little nervous about having enough. I do think I’ll make it with a bit left over, but until the sweater is sewn and blocked, I’ll continue to fret.

So continue to knit and spin, dear friends, and I’ll be back soon with more.