North Ronaldsay Blend Tops

North Ronaldsay Blend Fibre Tops

The North Ronaldsay Sheep are the only animals in the world, aside from a certain Galapagos lizard, to be able to subsist entirely on seaweed, leading to its nickname ‘seaweed sheep’. The breed is thought to be over 5000 years old. The breed is farmed within the Northern Ronaldsay Islands, Orkney and kept nearby the shoreline for most of the year.

Colours of their fleece are variable: including white, various shades of grey, black and moorit. The double fleece has coarse outer guard hairs and a fine soft inner coat. The fleece feels springy, even after its scouring and washing. It almost feels like it resists the water when you pour the pigments on and everything immediately flows to the bottom, leaving the top layer of the fibre very springy. It takes the dye beautifully and retains its springy texture and openness.

There are only about 600 of these seaweed sheep left in the world. Only through the conservation of the environment and through appreciation of this rare breed by spinning and knitting its fleece, can we hold on to one of the oldest and most special breeds in the world alive today. 

This blend is a dream to spin and work with. You can make a yarn that is strong and still soft to wear.  

Fibre Top Roving details

Weight per top: 100g / 3.52oz

Contents: North Ronaldsay Sheep 40%, Blue Faced Leicester 30%, Silver infused Seaweed 10%, Mulberry Silk 10%, Cashmere 10%.

More information on the rare sheep breed in this blend can be found in this IxCHeL blog.