Breed Study: Icelandic, First Impressions

This Icelandic fleece that I picked up at the OFFF parking lot sale was just too convenient not to get. It was already washed, it was a breed that I wanted to sample, it was a reasonable price, and the friend that I was with was happy to split it with me because it wasn't something she'd tried either.

photo from icelandicsheepworld.com

The fleece is from a wether. The seller said that it was actually the last fleece from her favorite wether before he passed away. I want to be able to do the fleece justice, being from her favorite wether!

Icelandic sheep aren't big giant sheep. They aren't known for their huge size or for their kind temperaments. They can survive and live off the land in Iceland, so they're pretty hardy sheep! Because of the landscape and their breeding history they tend to be more like feral sheep than pet sheep, though once they've warmed up to their shepherd they can be friendly enough. They make excellent mothers and I guess they frequently give birth into their early teens. More than 1 lamb per mother isn't unusual.

Their fleeces are double coated. The inner coat is called thel - it's soft and warm. The outer coat is called tog - it can be very long and is quite coarse. Separating the sections is fairly simple. It's easy enough to pull the tog out of the thel while locks are lashed onto a set of combs.

I have separated a little bit of the thel and tog, and spun up a sample of thel. It was an interesting fiber to spin. I don't know if it's just the way the fleece is jumbled in the bag, but the locks that I pulled out were fairly short stapled. The thel, once most of the tog was removed, was easy enough to comb. It spun up in a sort of clumpy thick and thin kind of way though. I think with more practice I'll easily be able to control the singles better. Though, I'm also toying with the idea of just making the thel into rolags...

My plan for the thel is to spin enough to knit a fingerless mitten and beanie set. It's a good basic color that will match everything in my wardrobe! I hope to have enough of the tog to spin it into a good strong yarn. I want to pair that yarn with horse hair from Dream and weave him a halter.