Long Way Homestead - Breed of the Month - February 2025

February: Spinning Shetland – A Challenging but Beautiful Wool

This month, I kept going with my 2025 spinning challenge! 🎉The Breed of the Month Fibre Study from Long Way Homestead, spinning a different Canadian sheep breed every month and sharing the experience along the way. Shetland History

For February, I spun Shetland, and wow... this one was a ride!

Shetland sheep have been around for over a thousand years, tracing back to Viking-era sheep brought to the Shetland Islands. Their wool was a huge part of the island’s economy, used for Fair Isle knitting and delicate Shetland lace. But by the mid-20th century, the breed was at risk from crossbreeding with larger commercial sheep.

Thankfully, conservation efforts (such as the Shetland Sheep Society, founded in 1985) helped preserve purebred Shetlands, and today, their fleece is recognized and protected.

About Shetland Wool

Shetland fleece is fine and elastic but has a bit of crispness to it. The staple length can be anywhere from 2 to 8 inches, and fleeces can be single or dual coated. One of the main characteristics of Shetland is its 11 officially recognized natural colors, like moorit (reddish-brown), shaela (steel gray), and fawn. It’s one of those wools that’s been loved for centuries.

My Experience Spinning

This one was tricky. First time dealing with this fibre—and with nepps, no less. Never worked with them before. At first, I wasn’t loving how my singles looked. They just weren’t… right. Too messy? Too textured? I couldn’t decide, but I knew I didn’t want to spend hours picking out every tiny nepp. That would have made me lose all interest in this spin and in this study, they were small and everywhere.

I asked for advice online and got a few different suggestions; some said to leave the nepps in, some suggested removing them as I spun (one by one), someone said to run it though a drum carder. And then immediately someone else quickly told me "not to do that!" warned that running it through a drum carder could make them worse. So, to not fully give up on this spin; I just leaned into the nepps and went for a thicker spin. Would it work?.. No clue. But I figured, worst case, I’d end up with a weirdly textured yarn. And honestly, I could live with that.. so this would now mean a 2 ply instead of a 3ply.

The staple length was on the longer side, which added another layer of challenge. I really wasn’t sure how this one would turn out, and I was bracing myself for a stringy, ropy two-ply... When I finally took it off the bobbin and onto the niddy noddy... it completely surprised me. The yarn is soft and bouncy, and somehow, all those nepps just disappeared into the texture.

Even though this spin took me a bit longer than usual because I really wasn’t vibbing with the way the singles looked and felt, I had to break it up into 30 to 45-minute sessions. In the end, It was worth it.

Final Stats

• Weight: Bulky

• Yardage: 205 yards

• WPI: 7

• Plies: 2

• Twist Angle: 50°

• Total Spinning Time: 6 hours to spin singles, 1.3 hours to ply

Finishing: 20-minute soak, dried in less than a day

Lessons Learned

Singles can be deceiving. I was convinced this yarn was going to be awful, but once it was plied and finished, it completely transformed. I learned that its okay to take breaks when a spin isn’t working out the way I had originally intended. Pushing through when I wasn’t enjoying the singles would’ve made this spin miserable. Instead, spacing it out helped keep me engaged.

This one tested me, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. On to March’s breed can’t wait to see what’s next!