handmade by stefanie

Photo courtesy of the American Gotland Sheep Society. I was thrilled to come across some Grey Gotland roving at the SOAR marketplace last fall. Gotland is very similar to the breed of sheep used to make Elven cloaks for the Lord of the Rings,  Stansborough Greys . Gotland sheep originated in Sweden (and are still raised there today); they were brought to New Zealand in the 1970s, where they developed their own distinctive traits, in part due to the breeding practices by Barry and Cheryl Eldridge. The Stansboroughs came to be recognized as a breed of sheep in their own right in 2005. While I have yet to come across bona fide Stansborough fleece to spin, I was quite happy with my experience with Gotland. It's very dense and silky - almost heavy-feeling, yet it was fairly easy to spin. It has a halo similar to mohair, and though I've read that commercially-prepared Gotland top has a matte, slightly coarse quality, I didn't find this to be true of the fiber I spun (if yo...