Shetland Sheep Wool

Shetland sheep are a ancient breed of sheep. They are probably descendants of sheep brought to the Shetland Islands by early Nordic explorers long ago. And the Shetland wool is now world renown. 

Their wool is very soft and fine and is wonderful to spin with. One of neat thing about the Shetland sheep is its variability within the breed. A small flock can produce amazing ultra-fine Shetland yarn, as well as coarser but equally gorgeous yarn that would be great for lovely warm outer garments!

Shetland wool comes in one of the widest ranges of natural colors of any sheep breed in the world. There are 11 main colors and 30 markings with many still having their neat names from the Shetland dialect. Fleeces normally weigh around 2 to 4 pounds each but even 5 to 6 pounds are not uncommon. 

One of the amazing things about this breed is that the wool will develop a weak spot near the skin in late spring. Making it possible for generations the people in the Shetland Islands to roo their sheep (pull the wool off by hand) instead of shearing them like so many other sheep breeds need today. The sheep on the far right side of the picture has just gotten finished with his rooing.