There's a reason why handspinners prefer Shetland fleeces.  Besides the stunning beauty of the natural colors that Shetlands produce, the crimp in their fiber makes it easy to grab onto, and it has both the strength to spin at high tension and the flexibility to keep the spin.  We shear our sheep only once a year, so the 5-8 inch locks make it easy to spin uncarded.  The real test of high quality fiber is that it "sings" when snapped taut, and our fibers sings beautifully!  We will be shearing again in early March 2015, so send us an e-mail to reserve fleeces.  Fleeces will ship mid-late April.

Please visit our store at Etsy to purchase yarns and fleeces.

Our Athena was the only single birth in a year of twins, and as the daughter of co-flock leader Cinnamon, she learned to run faster than the others and could always be found at the head of the lamb flock.  Athena's daddy was the legendary Apollo, who was jet black, and she inherited his beautiful black color.  Like all of Carmenia's fleeces, hers is a joy to spin!

Cinnamon, Carmenia's co-flock leader, has all the qualities of an excellent leader. Running at the head of the flock, she is prepared to take danger head-on, and once cornered Nikita, our livestock guardian dog!  She insists on having her way with food, and stepped up to nurse Shemane's baby lamb Orpheus when Shemane couldn't.  Her fiber inspires that maternal protection and couples well with the other colors of the flock. Cinnamon's fiber is the finest of all our fleeces and can be spun very fine as well as bulky.

Shemane, Carmenia's other co-flock leader, is terribly confused about her identity--she thinks she is a dog, and so her need for pets is insatiable.  Her fiber was used to spin the fine yarn in the header above--plied with alpaca and spun at 110 yards/50 g to make a shawl so soft it defies our expectations of what wool should feel like.

Our man Orpheus is as gentle as a little ram could be.  Like his mama Shemane's fleece, his can be spun fine or bulky.  Given his larger size, his fleece as well as his locks are both bigger than what the girls produce--spun at the right wpi, it should be possible to get a whole sweater out of his fleece.

Naobe was born to all-white Shemane and all-black Apollo, so her fleece has never been able to decide what color it is to be.  The grey and white yarn at right was spun entirely from Naobe's fleece without mixing, blending or plying--her fleece just keeps changing color, sometimes within the same lock. A textile artist's delight, her fleece will keep surprising you.