It is time!

I have worn my fuzzy mammals of the world as a vest for two years now as I have been slowly collecting and spinning new breeds of sheep. The time has come to turn it into a jacket. So I am knitting the sleeves.

There will be 20 new breeds in the sleeves. As before, I will try to knit each breed in such a way that it represents that breed in some way, either with colourwork if I have more than one natural colour, otherwise with texture.

(Disclaimer: There appear to be many apocryphal stories out there about the origins of sheep breeds. I give you fair warning; if I have a choice between a colourful story (such as sheep being shipwrecked on a rocky shore and founding a new breed) which might not be 100% factual, and dull dry facts (this breed is a good producer, and fine mother), I will almost always go for the good story. It’s much easier to knit a square based on a good story.)

A list of breeds I already have is here. If anyone has any not on this list, let me know. I’m still looking for more breeds to eventually turn this jacket into a coat.

(ETA: As of 2022, I am starting to knit the squares to turn this into a coat.)

The Breeds:

1) Cotswold: (traded with EowynMacGeek and bought at a fibre festival) This breed has been in Britain for centuries, and its wool was the foundation of British trade with Europe. Cotswold became known as the ‘Lion of England’. In fact, in the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor sits on a ‘woolsack’ made of Cotswold. So here we have the ‘Lion of England’.

2) California Red: Thank you Debbist, who gave me a sample. I divided the darker and lighter locks and spun it into two colours. With the darker I knit a California poppy in the round, and then turned it into a square using the lighter yarn.

3) Bond: Thank you Possum and LindaVK for the gorgeous locks. (white from James and dark brown from Ahsoka) Bond originated in the Australian state of New South Wales, and the kookaburra is the state bird for NSW.

4) Gotland: I separated out the lighter and darker locks of my sample and knit a Viking ship in the grey mist on the grey sea, since Gotland sheep were likely originally brought to the island by Vikings.

5) Teeswater: I was stumped and couldn’t think of a way to represent Teeswater, until a clever Raveller suggested a teapot. So here we have a teepot for Teeswater (teapot pattern by fuzzylover).

6) Clun Forest: Thank you, newfiespinner. Here is an oak tree to represent Clun forest where this breed originated.

7) Wensleydale: The Wensleydale breed originated from a ram named Blue Cap. Blue Cap was a spirit that manifested itself to miners as a flickering blue flame. My Wensleydale locks came in so many gorgeous shades of silver/grey, that I divided them into several different colours and knit myself a little flickering blue flame spirit.

8) Ouessant: (thank you Dangerpuddle ) Originated on the island of Ouessant (or Ushant in English). This is a black and white version of the island’s flag.

9) Rideau Arcott (thank you marika16). This beautiful fibre gave me problems. It is one of only 2 Canadian breeds I have, and it is so beautiful, I want to do it justice. It took me 3 1/2 tries to finally get a reasonably decent maple leaf. (Thanks to EvieEvie’s True North for inspiring me to even try.)

10) Kainuun Harmas (traded with palmikkopuu. This beautiful breed from northern Finland is represented by an approximation of the traditional Rovaniemi/Sami pattern often found on mittens (this is knitted flat rather than in the round, so is not entirely accurate).

11) Corriedale (thank you Stacie Beyer from Maine Spinners Registry, also bought from Gabihugs and portfiber) This was one of those breeds I obtained very early on and merrily spun up before I had any idea how I was going to use it. I ended up with yarn that was too thick to do what I wanted. So I bought some more and carded together leftovers and spun it again. Corriedale was simultaneously bred in New Zealand and Australia, so this square has the 6 stars of the Australian flag as well as the silver fern of New Zealand.

12) Ryeland (thank you dogyarns and Finsky) One of the oldest English breeds. Seven centuries ago, monks bred them and grazed them on monastery rye fields, represented by the grain-of-wheat stitch at the base of this patch. The crown is for Queen Elizabeth I, who when she was given a pair of stockings made from this fine Ryeland wool, declared she would never wear stockings made of anything else.

13) Falkland: (traded with EowynMacGeek and bought at PortFiber) Penguin tracks, since in the Falkland Islands, penguins and sheep hang out together.

14) Targhee (traded with EowynMacGeek and bought at PortFiber) This breed was named after the Targhee National Forest which surrounds the Ag Station where it was developed. So these 3 conifers represent Targhee National Forest.

15) Stansborough Grey (traded with EowynMacGeek ) This new breed from New Zealand was used to weave the Lothlorien Fellowship cloaks from the Lord of the Rings movies. This is just a small piece of that weaving pattern that I translated into knit and purl texture a few years ago for a scarf. It’s such a small part of the overall pattern that no-one will ever know what it is (although the pattern shows up a bit better in person than in this picture), but I will know, and it will make me happy. Because I am just that much of a geek!

16) Newfoundland (traded with a spinner I ran into while spinning in New Brunswick) This is a land race from Newfoundland. It makes such a wonderful sturdy-soft yarn! As a grad student, I spent a summer working in Newfoundland and the one thing I could rely on on was impenetrable fog, often accompanied by driving rain and howling wind. I generally worked 7 days a week, 12-16 hours a day, but one day I had a few hours free, so decided to hike in Bonavista Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, renowned for its stunning and dramatic beauty, among other things. This square shows in exquisite detail the amazing view I saw from atop the cliffs! Ha! I couldn’t even see the water below me. So the Newfoundland breed is represented by fog!

17) Icelandic (sleeve cap) This is a traditional yoke pattern from an Icelandic sweater. I bought Icelandic fleece from Þingborg while on a trip to Iceland with some knitting friends. I also picked up a few fleece bits I found out in the hills.

18) Finn Lily of the valley is the national flower of Finland, so I knit a lace overlay of this pattern and placed it over a background gradient of darker colours.

Once all the blocks were knitted, I framed them with grey Shetland cable and sewed them together. Using a cord of tightly crocheted linen, I laced the sleeves into the armscyes. I love wearing this as a vest, so this way I can switch between vest and sweater with just a few minutes of work.

Now, on the the rest to turn this into a coat…