Wool
I have carded some of my Swedish Finewool sheep wool the last few weeks. It’s incredibly soft! I dyed it last summer, but haven’t had time to prepare it for spinning until now. The Swedish Finewool sheep is one of Sweden’s national breeds, developed from old Swedish fine woolled sheep with a little bit of help from Finnish landrace (aka Finnsheep aka Finn) rams and some Norwegian breeds at the beginning of the 20th century. It’s a rare breed nowadays, wish I shouldn’t have to use the word “rare” so often when I talk about sheep! I also carded what was left of a batch of Kainuu Grey wool. Yes, it’s a very rare sheep…
As always, I got tired of doing just one thing, so I still have all of the blue fleece to card. And I also got out of storing space! Carded wool can’t be pressed down into plastic bags just like that, it needs a lot of storing space. I hope you can see through the plastic bag how crimpy this wool is. It takes a lot of time and effort to tame it into spinnable rolags. I open it on the drum carder in 3-4 passes, and hand card into rolags. Spinning is pure joy! I spin the way I love the best: long draw on my Swedish Saxony.
I also finally finished two spindle shafts I made last year. I wasn’t satisfied with them, so I took my knife and sandpaper and made some improvements. They work fine now. The whorls are made by a Swedish ceramic artist and spinner, Lena Bergsman of Rostocks Keramik. You find her on Facebook.
We’re still waiting for spring. You may have heard of the Walpurgis Night, the celebration of spring here in Scandinavia and some other European countries. It’s supposed to be warm, sunny, green, and the spring flowers should be blooming. But not so this year! This is what we woke up to yesterday morning all over Scandinavia:
So we’re still waiting. Meanwhile, I give the birds some wool for their nests:
Barbro's Threads 
Absolutely lovely rolags. And so much work you put into making them! Do you have plans for them?. Wonderful crimp in the blue wool. The Finnsheep is now a rare breed? That too bad. They are so prolific and have such nice wool. Your spindles are beautiful. Susan says hello and wishes you warm weather soon. It was over 90 F here yesterday in northern California. Way too hot. We could use some of your snow to cool off!!!
Thank you! No, the Finnsheep aren’t rare, luckily. But the Kainuu Grey sheep are extremely rare, even if they have increased a bit during the last decade.
Oh, glad Finnsheep aren’t rare. It is sad to see some breeds become rare and good the Kainuu Grey sheep are increasing. I meant to comment on the very warm colors that you’ve dyed above. What fun that will be to spin.