Føroyskur Seyður (Faroese) - Faroe Islands

Føroyskur Seyður or Faroese is a small, very hardy breed of sheep from The Faroe Islands that was first introduced in the 9th century and have long been an integral part of the island traditions.  The Faroe Islands are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean that sits between Iceland (280 miles away), Norway (360 miles away) and the UK (Scottish mainland 200 miles away) and are, in fact, a self-governing territory of the King of Denmark (Denmark 620 miles away).  They consist of 18 main islands and a total of 779 smaller islands, islets and skerries and are situated 177 miles away from the Shetland Islands. The name "Faroe Islands" has been argued to ultimately derive from fær, the word for sheep in old Norse and the sheep is depicted on the country's coat of arms.  It is an ancient dual-coated breed that belongs to the North European Short-Tailed family.  Faroese sheep are closely related to the old-style Spelsau, Icelandic and Shetland sheep.  The breed has the ability to naturally shed its fleece, known as roo-ing, although they are usually gathered to shear the fleece. During the late 19th and 20th centuries, Scottish sheep were imported, mostly to improve the wool, and this has resulted in some Faroese sheep being of a mixed breed, although the majority are still purebred. 

Faroese sheep don't have much of a flocking instinct, as there are no natural predators, so they will freely wander off in small groups, grazing on meadows, traversing rugged rocky mountaintops and lush bird cliffs.  The ears are usually cut with various simple designs to denote ownership and which pastures they should be on.  There are 54 different official cuts which can be paired in a vast number of combinations, and it is not permitted to use the same combination twice on the same island.    The first known law regarding earmarking is from 1298, where, amongst other things, it states: "But if he marks sheep which are already marked and puts his mark over that of the owner, he is a thief."

The wool and products made from wool have been a major economic factor of the Faroe Islands, with several thousand knitted sweaters being exported to the Danish army every year during the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815).  In 1898, the Norwegian parliament made a decree that all Norwegian infantry should wear Faroese sweaters under their uniforms in wintertime.  Meat would be consumed locally in the winter.  There is a saying on the islands which hails from the time when the wool was in high demand: "Ull er Føroya gull", which means "wool is Faroese gold", but these days it might be quoted in a sarcastic tone in lamentation of how little value the wool holds today.

Today, the breed is mainly kept for its meat, with local dishes being favoured over foreign-inspired culinary art.  Fresh meat is not valued as much as an air-dried meat called Skerpikjøt and ræst kjøt, a meat which has dried and become fermented.  

The wool is still used but not in anywhere near the quantities that it once was.  Mounds of fleece are sometimes burnt, and in some cases the sheep are left to shed their fleece naturally to save the cost of shearing, although many frown on this practice.  There are a small number of spinning companies that produce yarn on the islands, and this is mostly for domestic use and the tourist industry, and there are shops that sell sweaters, socks and shawls to tourists.

The time of year that the sheep naturally shed their wool is determined by the weather.  A warm spring with good weather results in shedding earlier, in late May, whereas a cold, wet spring results in shedding around late July or even early August.  If the sheep are gathered for shearing at the optimum time, the fleece can easily be removed by simply sliding a hand between the old and new growth, and it will just fall off, although for the most part sheep that have reached this natural shed point (roo) would have already lost chunks of their fleece on the pastures and would be looking very patchy and scruffy, and it is better for the sheep and for commercial reasons to shear the fleece off in one go.  This weak spot between the old and new growth is known to most as "the rise", especially within the hand-spinning community.

As I already stated, the Faroese are a small breed with the rams weighing 20-40kg and the ewes weighing 20kg.  The rams have horns and ewes are usually polled.  The breed has many different colours, with at least 300 combinations, each with its own unique name, but they are pretty evenly divided between white, black, and grey, with some light-to-dark browns appearing in the mix now and then.

The average fleece weighs 1kg, is double-coated, and has an overall micron count of 34-36 microns. The outer coat, made up of coarse long hairs to repel rain, may be up to 16inches long and is traditionally used for heavy-duty clothing like thick sweaters for fishermen and some of the early Arctic explorers, as these fibres offer waterproof qualities.  The inner coat is shorter, softer, fine, lanolin-rich wool, perfect for underwear and other fine garments.  To show off the best qualities of each fibre type, the coats need to be separated and processed individually, but they can also be spun together.  

I bought this breed as 100g of commercially prepared top back in September 2023.  It is a light grey with a micron count of 34-36 and an average staple length of 9- 10 cm (4 inches).

I started spinning this on 15th October by splitting the braid in half and pre-drafting. I spun as fine as possible, since the fibres are thicker and denser than many other breeds. I removed a number of really long, thick, coarse fibres. I finished spinning on 16th October 2026, and I got a yarn that was 100g/310m, and it feels fairly soft to the hand when you squish it, but it is far too prickly on the neck, so it would not be suitable for next-to-skin wear.

I started knitting the sample on 26th October and finished on 28th October 2026. I still have 210m of this yarn left. The lettering is not particularly clear on the finished piece.