Finnish Landrace - Finland

Finnish Landrace, also known as Finn sheep or just Finn for short, is an ancient breed from Finland kept for milk, meat, wool and vegetation management as they can feed on rough pasture.  Their milk is often used in cheesemaking. They are known to be one of the most prolific sheep in the world having three, four or five lambs at a time but they can have as many a nine.  The lambs are born small but grow fast and they mature early, being able to be mated themselves at six months old, although they are usually older than this when they first mate.  They are often used in cross breeding programmes to improve lambing rates. 

They are a medium-side breed with rams weighing around 68-91kg and ewes weighing 54 - 82kg.  They are usually polled and the face and legs are free of wool.  They are predominantly white but can come in a range of colours similar to those of the Shetland breed.  The second most common colour is black or black piebald.  Grey, brown and fawn shades can be quite rare.  It seems that availability of colour can depend greatly on where in the world the Finn sheep are being raised.  For instance, it seems that in Australia, white is the only colour available and the wool is longer and softer because they have been bred to have these traits through selective breeding.  This breed can have markings such as a white tail tip, white stockings, white crown, panda-like eye spots.

Finns' fleeces and their wool, often described as silky, is more sleek than fluffy.  It has a nice amount of crimp that gives yarns spun from it a pleasant resilience, although it can't be described as springy.  Most Finn fibre is white with a warm cast to it, but coloured fibre can be found if you search hard enough.  Almost all Finns are single-coated, although their heritage means a double-coated fleece may occasionally appear.  

Finn sheep fleece weighs 1.8-3.6kg with a yield of 50-70%, often on the high end.  The staple lengths are 7.5cm-15cm (3-6 inches), and the count is 24-31 microns.  The fleece is open, and the locks can be separated easily.  The locks are slightly pointed and occasionally have sun-damaged tips.  Shorter locks can be carded, but Finn has the perfect staple lengths for combing and combing makes the most of the lustre.  You can fluff out the locks and spin straight from them, or with one of the longer fleeces, you might want to spin from the fold.  Finn is a lovely, easy-to-spin wool.

Finn is a versatile wool, being sturdy enough to wear well, and some of it is fine enough to be worn next to the skin. It's best to do a tickle test on your neck before you decide what to make with your yarn.  It's a good choice for sweaters, blankets and other snuggly garments.  The fibre's body and lustre make it a great choice for textured knit and purl patterns or woven laces, as well as for crisply defined colour patterns.  

 

I had a choice of two fibre lots that I could use for this project, both commercially prepared top that I already had in my stash.  I had to choose between 50g of white from a breed exploration box I bought in 2020 or 100g of brown that was part of the 2021 Advent Calendar.  I thought about it and I wasn't sure if 50g would make enough yarn to knit the name sample, it might but it would potentially be very tight, and I really don't want to be playing yarn chicken or running out just before I complete it.  Looking at the colours of the other breeds that are in this project, whilst there is a nice amount of different colours and textures, overall white is dominant making the decision to use the brown really easy.

The first thing I had to do was to split it into two and then pre-draft prior to spinning. There was a number of thick white hairs and kemp and I removed this as I worked, both in the pre-drafting and the spinning. It is a pleasant and easy fibre to spin and has spun up to nice and next-to-skin soft fingering weight yarn and I got 96g/306m from this spinning, which I done 21st to 23rd December 2025.

I knit the project piece in the new year, once the Christmas decorations had been packed away, starting on the day that my youngest returned to University and I was knitting whilst the carpet fitters were putting the new carpet on the stairs and landing, which means the renovation of that area is finally finished in full now.  I finished knitting on 7th January 2026.

The stitch definition is pretty good, the words can definitely be read on this one.