The Art of Wool Grading

If you own sheep, they need to be sheared at least once and often twice a year, depending on the wool growth of the particular breed of sheep that you raise.  Once shorn, you end up with big bags of fleece that need to be shirted.  (Skirting is the process of removing all of the unusable wool- primarily the belly wool, the 'tags' or dirt and manure encrusted wool often from the very rear end of the sheep and the strip of wool down the center of the back that is often damaged by the weather.)  Once this is done, the wool that is left needs to be graded or sorted.

Martha Owen from the John C Campbell Folk School, North Carolina visiting with Shetland wool grader, Oliver Henry in the Lerwick warehouse of Jamieson & Smith, Ltd

With Shetland wool, the fleece is sorted into five different grades.  The grades range from 'Super Fine' all the way up to 'Rough'. Each grade of wool has it's own specific uses.  'Super Fine' can be spun into delicate lace weight yarn for fine lace shawls while 'Rough' is best suited for carpets.

With the older, more primitive versions of Shetland sheep you would probably find all five grades on one sheep.  From an evolutionary point of view, each grade had it's purpose.  The 'Super Fine' grades would be found surrounding the jugular vein areas on the neck of the animal.  It's downy character would have been extrodinarily insulating in the very worst of weather!

Wool classified as 'Rough' would most likely be found on the britch or hind quarters of a sheep.  On an island known for it's gale force winds, sheep tend to stand with their backsides facing into the wind for weather protection.  This 'Rough' wool would serve as a bit of a wooly wind breaker.

Jamieson & Smith LTD in Lerwick, Shetland

 Martha Owen had the chance to visit with Oliver Henry in the warehouse of Jamieson & Smith, Ltd in 2011.  Jamieson & Smith have been in existence in one form or another since the late 1940's.  Oliver came for a summer job in 1967 and never left.  Oliver grades Shetland wool for Jamieson & Smith which purchases 80% of the Isles annual wool clip.  The company also produces extremely high quality Shetland yarn that can only be purchased in Shetland or through the internet http://www.shetlandwoolbrokers.co.uk/

I personally understand the concept of wool grading from a visual perspective.  However, when Elizabeth Johnston of Shetland came to teach in 2010 along with Martha Owen, I had the opportunity to watch her grade a local fleece.  She essentially closed her eyes and placed her hand into the fleece and 'felt' the wool in her hand.  From that short 'squeeze', she was able to tell what grade the wool was in that particular portion of the fleece.  In much less than a minute she had graded the entire fleece.  I was in awe of her abilities.  It is definitely an acquired skill (which I have yet to acquire)!

Here are some links with more information about:
Jamieson & Smith
Their book  - Knit Real Shetland
Shetland Wool Week

Card Woven Halter for Shetland and Icelandic Stallions

 

When I first met Elizabeth Johnston several years ago, she was working as an Iron Age interpreter at Scatness in Shetland.  From my point of view at that time, she was a weaver who just happened to spin and knit. Most of you however know her as an exceptional Shetland knitter and spinner.

Last week she sent me these great photos of a new weaving project - a tablet or card woven halter for a friends' horse.  She had the chance to model it on both a Shetland and an Icelandic stallion.

Indy Ping-pong : Shetland stallion

Indy Ping-pong with card woven halter

Elizabeth made this halter using an ancient weaving technique called tablet or card weaving.  In this case she has handspun and hand dyed all of the yarns she used in the weaving.

Detail of card woven halter - note that this pattern imitates the look of a knitted object

 

Card weaving dates back to the Celtic Bronze Age in Scandinavia with the earliest findings in the second century A.D.  The earliest known cards from this area were made of wood. One of the greatest archaeological finds relating to this type of weaving was from the Oseberg ship found in Norway dating back to A.D. 850.  Here a tablet loom with 52 threaded cards, a partially woven band and a number of other card-woven bands was found in the tomb of Queen Asa.

Tablet loom in the Oseberg ship find from A.D 850

 

The pattern on the card woven bands is determined by a number of factors including how the cards are threaded, the number of cards used and the sequence that the cards are turned in, to create each new weaving shed.  The variation can range from simple to endlessly complex.  

Although today, we have a limited use for these bands, historically woven bands were used for reins, bridles, saddle girths, cloth edging as well as being used for tying and attaching all manner of things.  They were the decorative forerunner to zippers, pins, elastic and Velcro.

Haakon - Icelandic stallion with card woven halter

Note chevron pattern that is woven into the halter

For more details on the weaving and dyeing of this halter as well as links to the horse owners website, go to Elizabeth's blog http://www.shetlandhandspun.blogspot.com/ .

More lamb photos from Shetland...

Here are several more wonderful photos of Shetland lambs taken by Elizabeth Johnston on Mainland, Shetland in the last few weeks.

Elizabeth wrote, "The white ewe and lamb spotted the open garden gate and got in for a nibble before being chase out."

 

  If you look carefully, the moorit ewe to the right is horned.

These lambs have some really nice markings.

A moorit ewe with two black lambs.

 

 I always love seeing these photos, in part because of what these Shetland sheep from Shetland look like, but also for the scenery.  I suspect that the edge of this pasture is fenced due to a rather sharp drop off down to the sea.

Lamb Photos From Shetland

Elizabeth Johnston finally had the chance to send me some photos of the new colored lambs that she's seeing in the pastures around her area on Mainland, Shetland.  Between the wind, rain and heavy mist, it's not been good weather to take photos in - for her or the photos.

This ewe was seen while Elizabeth and some students made a local farm visit in search of some fleece.

Elizabeth noted, "The ewe in these was not well after she had her lambs so they have been giving the lambs some bottles for extra feeding, so 2 of my visitors got to feed them. There is one ewe and one ram lamb and they are both all black except for one which has a grey nose. Last year she had 3 lambs and was fine."

And finally, my favorite photo with the lovely old stone wall in the background... 

Elizabeth commented -"In the dull photo with the one twin standing on the mothers back - the lambs were playing, climbing on the ewes back and jumping off again. A few times they were both standing on her back but they move so fast I could not get the photo taken in time. So one on at a time was the best I got."

More lamb photos coming soon...

A matter of blocking...

I started knitting when I was about 9 years old and until recently I never made the effort to block my work. Although I'm not old enough to retire, I am old enough to get solicitations to join AARP...so that's a fairly long time.  Blocking has always seemed like too much of a bother...

As a former professional weaver, it never would have occurred to me not to finish my weaving once it came off of the loom.  I can't remember how many times I've told students that your work it not done until it's been washed, fulled and ironed. Somehow this just never seemed to apply to my knitting hobby...until a few years ago when I was listening to Elizabeth Johnston giving essentially the same comments regarding knitting as I used to give regarding weaving.  The light bulb finally went off!

Elizabeth's hat and lace shawls in the background

During the class on knitting Fair Isle in 2010 held at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard, WA, Elizabeth showed us some techniques for blocking a hat she had knit.  She used a plastic colander to get the shape of a head and later, after it had dried she steamed the hat edge back into shape so that it fit more snugly onto the head.  It turns out that blocking was all about getting your knitting to look good and do what you wanted it to do.  Another light bulb went off...

Several years ago, I knit a wool sweater for my husband.  He had tried it on several times and kept asking me to knit it a bit longer each time.  I was getting close to the end of this project and was getting anxious to be done with the whole thing, so I decided that it was indeed long enough - for me.  Unfortunately he never wore it much after that because...you guessed...it was too short for him.

After Elizabeth's blocking demonstration I went home and dug out his sweater from the back of the closet.  Next I found my wooly board or 'jumper board'.

'Jumper boards' in Shetland - Photo #P05489 taken in 1952 from the Shetland Museum Photo Archives

I washed up his sweater, spun the water out and put it on the wooly board. To stretch the sweater lengthwise, I then laced a long piece of yarn through both sides of the bottom of the sweater and then around the bottom of the board.  I did this several times to create an even tension along the bottom of the sweater.  At this point I started to tighten my yarn and stretch down the bottom of the sweater.  I managed to stretch the sweater almost four inches longer than it had been originally.

The sweater sat in the corner for a few days drying.  As I impatiently unlaced my piece of yarn to see if this 'experiment' had actually worked, I was thrilled to find out that my husband's 'too short' sweater was now just right!  And best of all it stayed this way, at least until the next time I washed it.  He's even taken to wearing it again!  Now I can't imagine knitting anything without blocking it after it's finished and washed.  I wonder what took me so long...

Ram photos from Shetland

Elizabeth Johnston was out earlier this week taking photos of sheep.  It's always a treat to see the sheep that form the beginning of the Fair Isle knitting experience.

It's lambing time in Shetland and the rams have been separated from the rest of the sheep. They have formed their own little flock. Here are some of the photos Elizabeth sent me and a few of her comments:

"It was a really windy day when I got them all in the same place to take a photo so I sat in the car and zoomed the camera. I was blown all over the place if I got outside."

 

 

 

 

"I love the photo of the one with the black eyes. He looks as if he has a good fleece."

"The black ram - the old style one - has a real rough fleece but good for rug wool. I wouldn't want to go in to the park with him either. His temperament is probably as bad as his fleece. His face is beautiful though and those horns..."

Because I raise Shetlands here in the US, I'm always interested in how a real Shetlander defines terms like 'old style' in relation to the fleece description.  Here is what Elizabeth had to say:

"OK, old style, I probably mean real primitive, unaltered. Those huge horns, and it is a small animal, if you saw it next to those other rams, he is visibly smaller. The size is small, but mostly it is the fleece. That white front is long and hairy, similar to the strip down the middle of the back. The fleece has an outer guard hair. The fleece might have some soft wool but most of it will be rough. This type of fleece would be used for outer wear, not to wear near the skin. The garment will be quite waterproof and will probably not felt and so not shrink. And temperament is as rough as the fleece. They can be real nasty to work with...He is gorgeous, but his fleece is fairly useless for us nowadays."

The last photo in the group got me really excited.  It turns out that one to the rams in the group Elizabeth was photographing had four horns!  I've never seen any four horned Shetlands in the US, but do know that they exist.  Here is the photo and her comments about this rare style of ram:

"They are rare, but when one arrives sometimes they are kept, just because they have arrived. I don't think anyone is breeding for them. And in fact I don't think they produce 4 horned lambs. I did say to Oliver at the Wool Brokers that I had seen one and he could name about 6 or 7 others he knew of lately. They don't have a particular type of fleece.
They are not really an animal that you want. The rams need a strong skull for rutting and these do not have strong skulls. The weight of the 4 horns can pull at the skull joins and they are prone to fractured skulls."

When the rain stops, Elizabeth has promised to go out and photograph some of the new colored Shetland lambs.  I can't wait!!!

 More of Martha's Shetland travels...

In April, Martha sent me this photo with the following commentary:

"I taught a class that Elizabeth organized for me in Shetland about 3 years ago!  Here is Hazel Tindall, the fastest knitter in the world spinning on an old spinney that came to her from her Auntie Ellen.  Auntie Ellen got the wheel when she was about 14, after leaving school (around 1900) and she perhaps spun on it up until the war years.  I thnk that in the end this fast knitter thinks she will just keep on knitting and maybe will not spin!  Look at her lovely all over!"

For those of you who have not heard of Hazel, here is a video that is from STV Scotland that is about her:

 

I love listening to the sound of the clicking of her needles in the background of this video...but I can't even imagine knitting that fast!