Highlander - New Zealand

The Highlander breed was developed, or designed, by a genetics company in New Zealand in the 1990's.  It is a composite breed of Romney, Texel and Finnish Landrace, but didn't really "take off" in New Zealand, so they tried it here in the UK and it is now an established breed in its own right, which means farmers are breeding Highlander sheep to Highlander sheep and getting purebred Highlander lambs.  Initially, I found plenty of information online about this breed but it was all about technical farm breeding and management, about birth rates, survival, birth weights etc etc and some of these posts go back about 9 or 10 years so its been in the UK for quite a while, but not a thing about the fleece and fibre aspect of this breed such as staple lengths, micron counts and such like.  All I could find was that it is a medium-sized sheep that grows white wool.

Fast forward 5 years, since I purchased the small amount of washed fleece, and there is now a lot more information out there about the wool. 

The breed produces a medium-grade, high-bulk wool that hand-spinners find surprisingly soft, squishy and fun to work with. As it is a mix of NZ Romney, Finnish Landrace and Texel, the fleece balances the long staple durability of the Romney with the fine, crimpy loft of the Finn. 

Micron counts typically are 27 to 32 microns and the staple length is generally 3-5". It has a blocky lock structure with a disorganised, springy crimp, giving the fibre incredible loft, elasticity and a desirable squish factor. It has a natural bounce and a medium length. 

Carding embraces the disorganised crimp and makes a lofty yarn. The yarn will be springy and lofty, no matter how you spin it, so spin finer than you would normally to achieve your desired yarn thickness. The fibres are relatively "grabby" and do not require excessive twist to hold together, although worsted spinning does require more twist than woollen spinning; ensure that it feels firm but doesn't kink. Due to the bounce factor from the Finnish Landrace, the yarn will bloom once washed. Finished yarns are durable, resistant to pilling and ideal for hard-wearing outerwear, sweaters, blankets, socks and housewares. It is naturally a bright, creamy white that absorbs acid dyes beautifully.

I bought this breed in as 100g of washed fleece in July 2021 and I combed it on 28th May 2022, getting 63g of top from it.  It was sold to me as "A new sheep breed developed in New Zealand with flocks here in Britain.  A sheep developed for commercial flocks; these are much overlooked from a fibre perspective.  This is from a local Cotswold flock.  It's a lovely soft fleece, short-stapled 2-3 inches, snowy white with woolly fibres."

I spun this up over the 4th to 6th of June 2026 and it was really nice to spin up. I spun it as fine as I possibly could to allow for the bounce and the loft, so that I didn't end up with fat yarn that I wouldn't be able to use in the planned project. I achieved a fingering-weight yarn, 63g/317m, and it is really nice.

I had to wait to knit this up for my project, due to the constant high temperatures and heatwaves, but I was able to knit it quite quickly over two days and finishing on 23rd July 2026.

Värmlandsfår - Sweden

Värmlandsfår, also known as Värmland sheep and the Värmland Forest Sheep originate in Sweden.  They began from Bengt Sonesson's large herd in Osebol near Stöllet by the Klarälven river in northern Värmland.  He had taken over the sheep from his parents and he had long been interested in sheep "of the old stock" so he did not buy any rams of modern breeds. Instead, he expanded his small flock in the 1970s with a few animals that he found on various farms around the Klarälvsdalen valley, in Munkebol, Benteby and Branäs, all of which were of the "old stock".

When Bengt was growing up, the sheep of the entire village were kept together in the forest.  The sheep mixed with sheep from other villages, which ensured that there was always new blood in the flocks.  As a rule, no adult rams were kept, but the ram lambs were allowed to graze with the ewes before they were slaughtered in the autumn.  The lambs were then born early in the winter, often around Christmas.  The sheep were usually white, but sometimes there could be black lambs.  Some were grey or "yset" as they were called, and there could be brown sheep in the area.  Bengt remembers in his youth that his parents had a horned ewe.  The rams are horned or polled.  Polled rams were most common, but horned rams also occurred among the original sheep

During the years 1992-1996, two typical rams from Hälsingland and a small flock from Dalarna were also taken into the flock.  Lars Englund and Nils Dahlbeck had come across these during their travels when they were looking for "coloured rye sheep" and when the "horned sheep" project began.  Among other things, one of these rams ended up with Roger Strömborg, a good friend of Bengt Sonesson, who had sheep from  Bengt's herd for a long time.  Another small group of sheep from Anette Back Olsson in Lekvattnet, Värmland was taken into care.

Compared with a modern meat breed, Värmland would be considered small, but it is one of the largest-bodied breeds. It was once known as Skogsfår (Woodland Sheep), and this name is no longer in use, but this breed used to survive in woodland pastures, and they still could, as they enjoy eating the leaves and bark of branches.

Värmland sheep are quite small compared to production sheep but are one of the larger breeds among the common sheep, both in number and in terms of body size.  Rams weigh 50 kg- 90 kg and stand around 72cm at the withers, and ewes weigh 45 kg- 85 kg and stand around 66cm at the withers.  Ewes are good mothers and usually have two lambs at a time, but triplets do occur.  Young ewes usually have one lamb. Värmland sheep can lamb three times in two years.

Värmland sheep have a good sense of flock, and they often become very friendly and tame. They are good grazing animals and like to eat grass.  The sheep are well suited to both small and large herds.

The Värmland sheep has been preserved in the gene bank of the Swedish Rural Sheep Association since 1997.  They are a conservation breed with 1691 registered breeding ewes (2021).

The colour varies greatly and is found in all colours, white, black, brown, beige and motely/speckled.  The motley/speckled colour did not have Bengt's sheep and is therefore not considered an original colour.  Bengt sometimes had sheep with a small white element.  This is an important aspect of the breeding work to preserve the Värmland sheep as they were.  The wool varies in type from rya to tapestry and fine wool, but also so-called vadamal wool is very common.  It is often very fine-fibred, well-suited for crafts and is very easy to spin and felt.

The wool varies within the breed; they are double-coated, and the length and quantity of the outercoat hairs vary, with fine and medium wools being the most common.

I bought this breed in as 118g of unwashed raw fleece that was part of a sample pack that featured 8 different Swedish breeds that I purchased back in early May 2022 from a lady called Anita Grahn based in Uppsala, Sweden.  I was going to add a link for Anita and her shop, but when I looked, her last social media post was in October of 2024, stating that she was in hospital, and she has not posted anything since. Her online shop is still empty as of June 2026. I do hope she is OK.  However, I can provide a link to Swedish Fibre, a small business run by Sandy Zetterlund who has a passion for knitting, wool, spinning and now a passion for bringing these beautiful fleece from these rare conservation sheep kept by small farmers into the limelight and put them in front of similarly passionate hand spinners like myself who care about ensuring the future and continuation of these rare and unique breeds.  The demand for and sale of the fleece from these rare breeds really do help the survival of the breed.  

Unwashed fleece

Unwashed locks

I washed the fleece on 21st May 2022 and the water turned muddy brown straight away.

Clean, dry, washed fleece

Once dry, I was left with 94g of clean fleece ready for combing, and it feels soft but with crispness too. The outer coat in this fleece is not particularly coarse; the fleece is soft and downy with fine hairs, with no thick, horrible hairs in this one. It's not totally soft, but it's not nasty either.  I combed it on 4th July 2023 and this gave me 50g of hand-combed nests ready to spin.

I spun this up on 3rd and 4th June 2026. It was an interesting spin. The fibres were fairly short; some were soft and downy, but the black guard hairs throughout added a coarseness to everything and made the yarn prickly. Definitely not next-to-skin grade as I have spun it. It might be so if all of the guard hairs could be removed. I achieved a yarn that was 48g/130m.

It took me a while to knit the piece for this, due to the heatwaves that we have endured this summer, and I had made a start on it only to have to leave it for a while and then when I picked it back up and started knitting again, reaching the pattern for the lettering, I discovered that I hadn't got the right number of stitches on the needles for my design and so had to undo the entire thing and start from the beginning. Thankfully, it was only about 10 rows. I finally finished knitting this piece on 19th July 2026.

Coburger Fuchsschaf (Red Fox) - Bavaria, Germany

Coburger Fuchsschaf sheep, also known as Red Fox Sheep, Golden Fox Sheep, Eisfelder Fox Sheep, Rousse Tetes, Coburg Fox Sheep amongst other names, originate from Bavaria in Germany and is a hill breed of sheep that is characterised by its reddish brown to golden colour.  Lambs are born reddish born and their fleece becomes lighter in colour at around 6-12 months old whilst the head and legs remain reddish brown.  Another breed that does this is the Portland, maybe there is some ancestral genetic connection dating back hundreds of years.  

In the late 1800's and early 1900's the breed was abundant, making up about 60% of the sheep found in the Coburg area of Germany, but was on the verge of extinction by the end of World War II.  The breed owes its continued existence to Otto Stritzel, a breeder and weaver from Bavaria who publicised the favourable traits of the breed.  The breed was officially recognised in 1996.   

In the early 1980's, there were only two registered breeders in the German state of Bavaria, with about 100 breeding ewes, and a breeder in Baden-Baden with a much larger flock.  By the end of 1993, this had increased to 34 registered breeders in Bavaria with 1,238 breeding ewes and 51 breeding rams, and since then, the breed has spread all across Germany.  Numbers have increased in recent years but it is still on the endangered list.

The rams weigh about 80-100kg and are about 80cm at the withers and the ewes about 60-75kg and about 70cm at the withers.  Both sexes are polled.  The head and legs are either both golden or both red-brown and are free from wool and they have a slight Roman nose profile.  Ewes generally give birth to twins.  Rams produce fleece of 4- 5kg and Ewes fleece are generally 3- 4kg.  The fleece is generally long and golden (white with a red-brown or golden tint) which contains either lots, or very little, of dark kempy hair, which can have an affect on the final colour of the spun yarn, depending on preparation of the fleece.  The micron count is generally 33-36 microns.

 

I bought this breed in as 100g of washed raw fleece back in July 2021 from a lady from whom I bought many of the breed samples for my British Sheep Breed Project.  I have purchased a number of samples from her for this Non-British Breed Project too, although she doesn't stock very many breeds that fit this category.  It was described as "the fleece is surprisingly soft fleece with a slight red tinge giving its name". This fleece has come from a flock in Cumbria here in the UK.  This a really hard to find breed that I haven't seen available in any of the usual spinning fibre stores here in the UK.

So, the sample of fleece that I purchased had some areas that had little kempy hair in and other areas that contained a lot.  The kempy hair was also a mixture of black and reddish-brown.

I didn't note the date that I combed this but most of the kempy hair was removed effortlessly by the combs, leaving just enough in for a little bit of interest and texture but revealing the golden colour of the fleece.  I have 62g of lovely hand combed top to spin up.

I split the amount of fibre into two equal amounts and pre-drafted prior to spinning. I also manually removed as many of the black/dark fibres as I could during that process, spinning, plying and manually checking the finished yarn. There were three fibre nests in each ply. One of the nests was noticeably coarser than the other five, so I pre-drafted that one alongside the other nests to even out the fibre quality along the entire length of one ply.

I spun this yarn up on 2nd and 3rd June 2026 and I achieved 48g/253m and the resulting yarn is a slightly crisp yarn, not soft and luxurious, but I would have no issues wearing it around my neck.

It is not a solid white or cream yarn, the variety of tones within the yarn are very visible once it is knitted. It took me a couple of days to knit the project piece up and I finished on 16th June 2026.

Gestrikefår - Sweden

Gestrikefår are one strain of several Swedish breeds referred to as "forest sheep", each of which is geographically and genetically unique and very rare.  This breed of sheep originates from the village of Mörtebo in Gästrikland (Gestrike) province in east central Sweden and were once very common.  They were "rediscovered" in 1994 after seemingly been kept in small numbers in closed herds on a handful of farms. They are an endangered conservation breed with just 216 breeding ewes registered as of 2021.  Gestrike have been in the gene bank of the Swedish Farm Sheep Association since 2000.  

They are known for being unusually tame and affectionate.  They are quite small with rams weighing around 60-70kg and standing 69cm at the withers and ewes weighing around 45kg and standing 65cm at the withers. They have short tails, which often go bald as the sheep ages.  The ewes usually have twin lambs but can also have single lambs, triplets, or quads. Both rams and ewes can have horns, but they are usually polled. When horns are present, the Rams will have large horns, whilst the ewes will have small horns.  They come in a whole range of colours: white, grey, brown, black and all colours in between, spotted and parti-coloured. Some lambs are born white and some black or brownish and the fleece can lighten in colour with age. They have double-coated fleece, which varies from very fine wool to long wool type.  The undercoat is often dense.  The wool has tapestry wool or rya-type wool.  I've not been able to find any information about the fibre diameters or microns, but as this is a conservation breed and not in huge numbers, and the fact that the fleece is double-coated and can vary, then I am not surprised that the information is not available.

I bought this breed in as 113g of unwashed raw fleece that was part of a sample pack that featured 8 different Swedish breeds that I purchased back in early May 2022 from a lady called Anita Grahn based in Uppsala, Sweden.  I was going to add a link for Anita and her shop but when I looked her last social media post was in October of 2024 stating that she was in hospital and she has not posted anything since and her online shop is empty as of June 2026. I do hope she is OK.  However, I can provide a link to Swedish Fibre, a small business run by Sandy Zetterlund who has a passion for knitting, wool, spinning and now a passion for bringing these beautiful fleece from these rare conservation sheep kept by small farmers into the limelight and put them in front of similarly passionate hand spinners like myself who care about ensuring the future and continuation of these rare and unique breeds.  The demand for and sale of fleece from these rare breeds really do help the survival of the breed.  

I washed this just a few days after it arrived and the water turned really brown.  All of the beige-brown fibres became white and after it had been washed and dried I was left with 103g, a drop of just 10g.

I combed the fleece about a month later on 19th June 2022 and it gave me 77g of lovely interesting top ready to spin.

I split the fibre into equal amounts to spin a 2ply yarn and pre-drafted it, trying to ensure that the black guard hairs were evenly distributed throughout. It was quite nice to spin, spinning it over a couple of days and finishing on 2nd June 2026. The wool itself was a mix of white and pale grey, which made for an interesting yarn.

The yarn is sturdy, crisp, a little prickly, definitely not next-to-skin. I measure it to be about a sport weight and 73g/229m.

I finished the knitted piece on 10th June 2026.

I think the lettering is fairly easy to read and I love the pooling of colour within the knitting.

Walliser Schwarznasenschaf (Valais Blacknose) - Switzerland

The Walliser Schwarznasenschaf, more commonly known as Valais Blacknose, or Swiss Valais Blacknose, is a breed of mountain sheep that originates from the Valais region of Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland.  It is a dual-purpose sheep, being raised for both meat and wool and is well adapted to grazing on the stony pastures of its area of origin.  They are good at grazing steep, rocky slopes.  

The sheep are documented as far back as the 15th century but the German name of Walliser Schwarznasenschaf was not used until 1884. There has been some cross-breeding in the 19th century with the Bergamasca sheep from northern Italy and the Cotswold sheep from England.  In the 20th century there was some cross-breeding with another English breed, the Southdown.  The breed standard dates from 1962.

They are unique to the Upper Valais and are well adapted to the harsh mountain conditions, being hardy, prolific and frugal.

The breed was exclusively raised in Switzerland until it was imported to the British Isles in 2013 and 2014 by several interested breeders.  There are now flocks of them in Austria, Germany, Holland and the U.S.A.  The total population reported in Switzerland for 2023 was 10,285 -19,732, with 9,380 ewes registered in the herd book, they are not at risk or in conservation breeding programmes.  

Both sexes are horned with helical or spiral-shaped horns.  Ewes may have black spots on tail but rams may not.  Rams weigh 80kg-130kg and stand 75cm-83cm at the withers and ewes weigh 70kg-90kg and stand 72cm-78cm at the withers.  They are unmistakeable sheep with black on their nose, eyes, ears, knees, hocks and feet with light woolly coats.  The wool is coarse with fibre diameter averages of around 27-38 microns and staple lengths of 4 inches (10cm) or more.  The fleece usually weigh around 4kg.

I brought this breed in as 200g of mill washed fleece back in May 2021 and it weighed 256g on arrival.  If I recall, I bought this through Ebay and not one of my usual suppliers.  I do buy fleece through Ebay from time to time but not very often as I prefer to buy from more trusted sources.

I hadn't made any notes as to what I did, whether I washed it again before I worked with it and I can't remember, it was more than 4 years ago and I've worked a lot of fleece since then!  I hadn't even made a note of when I combed it but I have found that out by the date on the photo file.  It seems I combed the fleece in the few days leading up to 3rd June and I got 151g of hand combed from it, to go with the shoulder injury I also suffered from combing this fleece.  I do remember that the locks were really long and I had to keep my combs wide apart from each other and this gave me a badly aching shoulder for months after I had combed it.

I split the fibre into two and pre-drafted before spinning the singles. It was an interesting and enjoyable spin. The fibre quality was variable throughout. Where the fibres were softer, they were shorter and finer; where the fibres were coarser, they were longer and thicker. It's not a true double-coated fleece, but it is classed as a semi-double-coated fleece.

It is not next-to-skin soft, definitely has some prickle to it but not as bad as some of the other breeds. I got a fingering weight yarn that was 138g/463m.

I spun the yarn over two days, 28th and 29th December 2025 but I didn't get around to knitting with it until May 2026. I took me a while, as it so big and I finished the knitted piece on 30th May, using 40g/134m of the yarn. I hope the wording is readable, it was difficult to photograph given the length of the name.

Design A542 - Hot Pink & Dark Grey Poncho

This is the last of the current planned ponchos. Using Drops Cotton Light throughout, which is 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester, this one is made using Hot Pink and Dark Grey.

Drops Cotton Light Hot Pink

Drops Cotton Light Dark Grey

The design consists of six crochet panels, which are then joined together to form a cohesive piece. Additional crochet is added to both the top and bottom, and the piece is finished off with fringing/tassels.

The panels are joined in a way that creates a visible, textured line of stitches between each panel, and are an integral part of the design. The poncho is designed to be worn square, allowing a whole crochet panel to drape and cover each arm. However, it also looks good when worn in the traditional triangular poncho style, if you prefer. The construction is designed primarily for the square method. It is pretty generous in size but isn't overly long in the body length, so depending on your bust size, it may only just cover "your girls" if you're quite busty, or it may hang down to your waist if you're quite petite. It is designed for adults. Please pay attention to the measurements across the neck opening and measure around the top of the breastplate/shoulders, including the arms, to ensure it stays in place without falling straight off you or the person you are buying it for and landing on the ground.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos. I began on 1st May and finished on 3rd May 2026. The overall fibre content on this one is 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester. The measurements are 14.5" across the neck, for a 29" opening and 14.5" from the neck to the bottom of the crochet (not including the tassels). I have enough yarn left over of both yarns to make more things in the future.

I already have plans for all of the leftover yarns from all of the ponchos and I will be making things throughout the rest of this year, alongside getting on with the "non-British sheep breed project".

Design A542 - Pink Marshmallow & Grape Poncho

For this poncho I have used Drops Cotton Light in shades Pink Marshmallow and Grape. 

Drops Cotton Light Grape

Drops Cotton Light Pink Marshmallow

The design consists of six crochet panels, which are then joined together to form a cohesive piece. Additional crochet is added to both the top and bottom, and the piece is finished off with fringing/tassels.

The panels are joined in a way that creates a visible, textured line of stitches between each panel, and are an integral part of the design. The poncho is designed to be worn square, allowing a whole crochet panel to drape and cover each arm. However, it also looks good when worn in the traditional triangular poncho style, if you prefer. The construction is designed primarily for the square method. It is pretty generous in size but isn't overly long in the body length, so depending on your bust size, it may only just cover "your girls" if you're quite busty, or it may hang down to your waist if you're quite petite. It is designed for adults. Please pay attention to the measurements across the neck opening and measure around the top of the breastplate/shoulders, including the arms, to ensure it stays in place without falling straight off you or the person you are buying it for and landing on the ground.

I didn't take any work-in-progress photos. I began on 26th April and finished on 30th April 2026. The overall fibre content on this one is 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester. The measurements are 14" across the neck, for a 28" opening and 14" from the neck to the bottom of the crochet (not including the tassels). I have enough yarn left over of both yarns to make more things in the future.