I went to Iceland in part to explore their sheep and especially the wool that they produce. Icelandic sheep are the only breed on the island. When the Vikings settled Iceland around 870 CE, they brought sheep with them. It has been illegal for centuries to bring any more to this island meaning this breed has developed in isolation. According to Robson and Ekarius*, this is one of the world’s purest livestock breeds.

Icelandic sheep are grown primarily for meat but those of us who are spinners know that their wool is prized for strength and beauty. In Iceland there is a company named Istex that manages most of the wool clip of the country. I shared a tour of the scouring facility in Blönduós on my blog HERE a few weeks ago.

These sheep are shorn twice a year. The shearing in the fall when they’ve just come down from the mountains where they spend the summer is the best wool. This is because it is cleaner. The second shearing is in February or March before lambing after the sheep have been in the barns for the winter. This wool is mostly used for carpets. Sheep barns look like this and you can imagine that the sheep are busy bumping into each other and dragging dirt and hay across each other’s backs for many months.