UTS Shetland Hap Shawl!

Wow!  It has been a fun few weeks working on this and it has been so hard to keep quiet about it!!  I think this has been the most exciting project that I've done with Shetland wool!  Though I do have to say, the Fair Isle that I've done ranks right alongside!!  I just didn't want to put this hap down.  And now, I don't know whether to have it constantly cuddled around me (except on days like today where it is in the mid-90's) or frame it.

Here's the bottom line up front:  Shetland wool is made to be used for the traditional knitted garments like lace and hap shawls and Fair Isle sweaters (and other knitted garments).  This is what made Shetland wool famous!  Fine, crimpy, soft wool - that is the Shetland legacy and has been for hundreds of years.  There is no comparison and there is no better way to show off this legacy than in an article such as this (or Fair Isle).

I'll start from the beginning.  On March 21, I started a Shetland hap shawl out of some mid-heavy weight handspun.  The yarn is sport/DK/worsted wt and out of less crimpy, but still soft Shetland wool.  I was so itching to start a hap (because I had the pattern) and I didn't have all of the colors I wanted in handspun fingering wt.  At least not in the amounts I would have needed.  So, why not grab what I have on hand (the heavier wts) and make one from  that?  At least that is what I thought.

Lambing was hot and heavy at that time, but knitting the mostly mindless garter stitch center was a good down time project and the "shawl" quickly progressed.  Picked up the borders (working borders out method) and started knitting the feather and fan lace part either the end of March or the beginning of April.  Then the fingering wt millspun yarns arrived . . .

At that point, I was getting ready for the Fiber Event.  I washed up skeins and skeins of the millspun yarn, getting ready, but I couldn't help myself!  I cast on with some of the millspun and worked on a garter center for another shawl while at FE.  Since the hvy wt handspun was literally getting heavy in the hand to knit with, I put it down and worked on the fingering wt shawl.  I have gotten this far with the heavier wt yarns:

UTS Shetland hvy wt handspun "hap"

I'll be finishing this soon, since I'm more than halfway through the color changes, but I don't know if I'll put the lace edging on it or not.  It will be more like a blanket for the couch, and not a shawl so it really doesn't need the lace.  I like it, but Shetland wool just doesn't fit for a shawl in this yarn weight - it is simply too heavy.  Yarn spun this weight begs to be made into blankets, not shawls or even sweaters.  Maybe boot socks.

Below is the finished millspun fingering Shetland hap shawl.  I can easily understand why the women knit a great number of these shawls.  Fine Shetland wool just fits these hap shawls to a T!  That and all the other stretchy knitted garments that Shetland wool is famous for!

UTS Shetland millspun hap shawl - unblocked.  About 43" square.  18" ruler shown.

UTS Shetland millspun hap shawl - washed and blocking with lace wires.  About 54" square.

Here are the two haps, side by side.  As you can see, the pattern really opens up when the hap is washed and blocked.  The fingering wt hap was even more scrunched up than the hvy wt due to the better quality wool/yarn (finer and more crimp).  

Yes, the colors used for both are very similar.  The center square for the handspun is out of a lt-med grey whereas the millspun square is out of the off white/lt grey (it has black fibers in it made from light grey fleeces, and no, they aren't coarse black fibers at all!).  

Since the first hap blanket isn't finished, I can't give all the comparison details yet but will give you this bit of info.  The center garter square of the handspun hap weighed in at around 8.9 oz, minus the needle weight.  The fingering wt square clocked in at 4.4 oz.  The final weight of the fingering wt hap is 13 oz (which is about right, a shawl this size should be around a pound or less).  I'm betting the handspun is going to be around double that (unless I don't put the edging on).

And, oh, I modified the lace edging to make it "mine"!   I wanted a bit more of an airy look to the edge so incorporated a double row of yarn overs instead of a single row.  I think it looks good!


I've already started working on a millspun black half hap (creating the pattern in my head as I go based on this pattern) and thinking what colors I need for a handspun version (in a fingering wt, don't know what colors yet though I think I have enough spun up).  I've only got so many #6 needles . . .

Sales listings

See our Adult, lamb, mule, and yarn pages for updates!

Here's a preview of what I've been working on!

Preservation of a Breed

It seems that about this time of year, I need to post research regarding Shetland sheep.  Since there is something new to discover all the time, this isn't too much trouble.  It actually solidifies for me why I do what I do - breed the best possible Shetland sheep.  This blog post is a copy of what was just posted to the Shetland Yahoo group.  I reposted it here for posterity and easy reference.

This photo is NOT a Shetland sheep.  It is an award winning sheep in its own breed – the Spelsau.  It is not even located in the British Isles. 

If the sheep we are breeding are looking like this breed, we are not preserving completely Shetland characteristics.  We are preserving characteristics that are exhibited by another breed. As I am big into research, I am constantly finding new pieces to the genetic puzzle of this fascinating breed – and the puzzle is becoming more and more complete.  Here is a  very brief update on Shetland sheep history with the addition of some of my current findings relating to the infiltration of other breeds onto Shetland, especially the Norwegian breeds:

Native sheep were already in the Islands of Shetland long before the Vikings came over.  They were a very small sheep (far smaller than this ram), similar to the Soay in body size and structure as well as fleece characteristics.  These may have been the ancient and extinct Scottish Dunface breed (a very small, natural colored Northern Short-tail) and most likely interbred with the Soay.  The Dunface were supplanted in mainland Scotland by the Scottish Blackface.  The archeological remains show that the fleece of the native breed on Shetland was either a medium fleece (meaning not a long wool or double coated), or a hairy medium (meaning somewhat double coated but still not a long wool).  Both fleeces were found (and were under 3”).  These two types are quite similar to the fleeces displayed in the present day Soay sheep (which is thought unchanged for thousands of years). 

From the 1200’s onward, about the time when records were first written and preserved in Shetland, the native sheep were already long well known for their fineness and softness of their wool.  Sinclair noted that there were two types of native sheep in 1790, the ‘kindly’ and the ‘beaver’.  Norsemen had been coming over to Shetland for hundreds of years and sometimes brought the Villsau, Spelsau, Gute (Gutefar), and other Norwegian types of sheep over (but still Northern Short-tails).  These sheep are generally bigger in size, bone, and structure, and have a double coat with a coarse outer coat and generally finer inner coat – similar to the picture of the grey ram.  This is no doubt the origination of the ‘beaver’ sheep, but not all as the Scottish Blackface breed had already infiltrated the Shetland Islands by that time as well and was used for crossing to speed growth and increase size and wool production. 

The area of the Dailley importation was well known for crossing blackface sheep into the native sheep “every seven years”.  The 1927 standard (and the objects, bye-laws, and regulations as well) was written to preserve the native breed of sheep on Shetland by the formation of the Shetland Flock Book Society (now the SFBT) because of the detriment of the infiltration of the Roman crossing breeds – the economic health of the Island was threatened since the fine soft wool was one of the two pillars of income (fishing was the other).  Then, in the late 1970’s, Dr. Bowie and others wrote articles on the state of the breed and the fact that the rare colors and patterns were being lost – at the same time mentioning that the high quality of the fleece needed to be preserved (meaning the fineness and softness).  This led to the RBST declaring the breed endangered (the breed was actually not endangered as there were thousands of white and moorit Shetlands, just the rare colors and patterns were endangered). 

Efforts to preserve the breed outside of Shetland were made and this led to both the breed being imported to Canada by Dailley and the UK importing Shetlands to Scotland and England (they were already there, just more were brought in and still are today).  This then led to the formation of the Shetland Sheep Breeders Group (SSBG, now the SSS) and NASSR/A, which were closely linked in the beginning.  The RBST gave the care of the Shetland breed to the SSBG/SSS, after they had removed them from the RBST endangered listing.  In 1999, the SSBG/SSS formed a committee to make a document that would clarify the Shetland wording of the 1927 Shetland standard so that it would be better understood by all breeders, especially new breeders who were unfamiliar with Shetland sheep and their unique characteristics.  This was done in conjunction with the SFBT breeders (who had been breeding Flock Book breed standard Shetland sheep for generations) in order that the document was correctly clarified.  This document is called Appendix A.  Appendix A is used to only clarify the 1927 breed standard.  It is not meant, nor ever was meant, to replace the 1927 Shetland standard.  UK breeders only wanted to know why the standard was written with the wordage that it was and how it translated into British English, not 1920 era Shetland English, and what it meant to breed for true 1927 Shetland breed characteristics.

For more information regarding the validity of the above:  Please read the Brief History report describing the Shetland breed from many articles and books over the past 200-300 years, Dr. Bowie’s writings (his father was instrumental in the writing of the 1927 Shetland standard, was there at the time of its writing, and himself was instrumental in the preservation of the Shetland breed from the 1970’s till his death in the 2000’s), Dr. Ryder’s writings (including the huge Sheep & Man.   Dr. Ryder has specialized in European sheep and the history of them and published numerous articles since the 1960’s), Dave Kinsman’s Black Sheep of Windermere (he goes over the history of the Hebridean sheep and with it much history of the Shetland sheep), as well as numerous recent articles and photos from not only the Shetland sheep in Shetland and the UK but also the various breeds that are surrounding Shetland itself and to see how introducing those breeds would have had an impact.  The Soay site has excellent photos of what an ancient fleece type of Shetland sheep would have looked like before any introduction of Norwegian breeds or any of the crossing breeds used on Shetland for a few hundred years.  http://www.soayandboreraysheep.com/articledetail.php?Soay-Fleece-Structure-and-Variety-in-Soay-Sheep-10  

To sum up, Shetland sheep are a small, slow growing, flinty bone (not large and round boned or heavy boned as the grey ram shows), natural colored Northern Short-tailed breed known for the fineness and softness of its wool which was mainly used for knitted hosiery (undergarments meaning undershirts, long underwear, shawls, hats, fine stockings, gloves, sweaters, and socks).  Introduced breeds over the centuries have produced sheep on Shetland that were known also for producing wadmal, a coarse wooled, woven and heavily fulled cloth used for heavy skirts, jackets, bedding, and the fabric was traded as currency.  This was the era before 1750 –  fine knitted goods, coarser knitted goods like socks, and wadmal were all produced at the same time.  Between 1750-1850, the transition was made to focus on the sheep that produced the goods that brought the highest return in wool (for the women’s knitting) in conjunction with crossing the sheep to both try and capitalize on the fineness and softness in a bigger, higher yielding sheep (could not be done with a crossing breed) as well as just trying to produce sheep with a faster growth rate, bigger carcass, and more wool in general.  The ancient, native breed with the fine, soft wool was the one that was able to produce the knitted goods that brought world fame to the Islands.  The 1927 Shetland breed standard was written to preserve them and to exclude any others.  Let us preserve the ancient, native Shetland as described in the 1927 Shetland breed standard and clarified by Appendix A as well.

Lamb pics!

Finally got some pictures of the lambs.   This is ONLY a few of them! 

Cassandra x Walden's musket ewe lambs.  Both are FS. Cassandra is crimpy, fine and soft.  She may be for sale.

Ceylon x Pegasus's black spotted ram and black krunet ewe, 2 white lambs (might be Tralee's?)

Here are Ceylon's again.  The ram is for sale.  He is going to be very fine and soft and probably silky as Ceylon is silky soft and fine.  Haven't made my mind up yet on the ewe (I want to keep a couple of Pegasus's ewe lambs, but don't know which ones yet.  He threw several.).

One of Cinnerelle x Pegasus's mioget spotted rams (the big horned one).  FS  Will be very fine and soft.  Cinny has a silky fine fleece.

Clarion x Pegasus's grey spotted on the left and black HST on the rt.  Both ewes.  I'm keeping one of them, but don't know which right now.

Crystal x Coburg's mioget ram.  FS  Twin brother is emsket and FS as well.  Crystal is for sale too.   Love this boy's typey head.  Will be very soft. 

Dakota x Perse's moorit ram lamb.  NFS - possible breed sire for this fall.

Dakota's ewe.  Don't know what I'm doing with her yet. 

Ellie x Dungaree's moorit ewe lamb (her triplet brother is behind her).  FS - will be very fine and soft.  Moorit ram is FS and white sister is ?, possibly reserved.

Gemmata x Velour's ewes.  The gul is NFS and the kat is FS.   Gem is FS. 

White Lilac x WS 0923 black ram.  Being evaluted at the moment.  Yeah, very crimpy, fine, and even.  Very soft.

Mirky x Walden's white ram.  Being evaluated.

Morel x Dungaree's moorit ewe - NFS.  Her black sister is FS.  F2 Jings. 

Mullein x Coburg's ewes, spotted emsket is FS (possibly reserved) and mioget is NFS.  Mullein is a gold mioget and is FS.

Onyx x Velour's. Ram is FS pending evaluation and ewe is NFS.  Just sheared Onyx today, shortly after the picture was taken - very nice fleece.  Also sheared her 2011 daughter, Surah, by Apache, last year's IN State Fair Best Fleece on Hoof - very nice!  Great length (~ 6"), very fine and crimpy! 

Orchid x Pegasus.  Ram is possibly reserved.  Ewe, at the moment, is NFS.

Pima x Walden's musket ewe - FS. 

Sencha x Velour's lambs.  Ram is being evaluated and ewe is NFS.  Since Sencha is horned, I'm betting that is giving him the edge in the big horn department.

Shalimar x Walden's lambs.  Musket ewe is being retained and grey ram is FS.  Both have head spotting.  Shalimar is very fine and crimpy.

Shaughnessy x WS 0923 black ram - NFS.  Possible fall breeding sire.  He is an underfoot boy so this is the best shot I got of him. 

Slevina X Perse lambs (triplets - not the mioget behind).  All are FS.  Musket ram, musket ewe, and either very light emsket ram or emsket grey ram (he is light blue).  Slevina is a musket mioget and has color in her adult fleece.  All are very soft.  Both rams are half polls.  Slevina has a silky soft fleece so I'm assuming these lambs will be the same. 

Slevina x Perse's musket ewe. 

Tralee x Dungaree's white ewes.  This one is either being retained or is reserved.

There are a lot more lambs to get pictures of! 

I'll also be posting the ewe lamb listing soon. 

For those who have been wondering, here's what I've been spending a lot of my time doing - just clip on the dotted line . . .

I actually really enjoy blade shearing the sheep, at least the fine fleece ones (can't say that for the double coats!).  When they are ready with a roo line, like this picture, it goes fast and easy. 

Ginebra and her mules - can you believe that BOTH of these lambs were on top of her!!  Too bad I only got one of them in a shot.  They thought it was great fun to get up on mom, and she doesn't seem to mind.  I've seen these two do this several times with her.  There is a reason I like my sheep to wear coats - to keep the dirty lamb hooves out of the fleece!

Adults for sale

Here is the listing for adults that are for sale.

ADULT EWES  – most have twinned or tripleted and raise good lambs.  I have retained progeny from most of these ewes. 

UTS Fraiche – 2003, musket (Ag/Aa), fine grade, small/medium size.  Refined bones/type. Top quality lambs.  Carries spots.  Very milky.

Underhill Crystal Gayle – 2003, gold to rose mioget, fine, med size. Refined. 

UTS Mullein – 2004, gold mioget, G2/3, large size.

UTS Clary - 2004, moorit iset, lg, fine. 

UTS Rahab AI – 2005, grey kat (B/b), F1 Jericho, fine, med size.  Refined.

UTS SG – 2006, grey, fine but grade 4  due to a bit of scadder, med/lg size. 

UTS Ginebra – 2006, white, fine, lg size, F2 Skeld. 

UTS Prairie Wind – 2006, moorit iset, fine, lg size.  Refined. 

UTS Rhoswen - 2006, grey, carries spots, med/lg size.  G3/4 due to fleece length, 6-7" wavy/crimpy.

UTS Galerina – 2007, emsket, fine, med/lg size.  Reserved.

UTS Gemmata – 2007, moorit/fawn gulmoget, grade 4 double coat, med/lg, refined, very milky.

UTS Cinnibarina – 2007, moorit, fine, med size, refined.

UTS Clavaria – 2007, black gulmoget, grade4, large.

UTS Marriott - 2009, musket, large, grade 3-4 (due to 6-7" length, wavy/crimpy), F1 Minder/F2 Jings, carries spots. Possibly reserved?

UTS Nikko – 2009, dark brown, grade 4 double coat (but mostly inner coat, soft fine outer coat, dense), large.  Carries spots.  Available now with spotted fawn kat ram lamb by UTS Broderick (AFD 23.6/SD 4.4/ CV 18.5).

UTS Chalet – 2009, lt moorit/fawn, lg, grade 3.

UTS Lady Grey – 2010, grey kat, fine, sm/med, refined. Carries spots.  Reserved.

These ewes available only in June after weaning lambs, unless sold with lambs afoot.  Reduction of the flock will occur after that date with no holdovers as pasture is designated for market lamb growing, our own retained ewes, rams, and lambs, and a few lambs for evaluation, and not excess adults or purebred lambs this year (the past two years we've had drought conditions in late summer/fall).  Please contact me ASAP for reserving any of these ewes.

Fleece samples on the adult ewes will be sent this week so micron reports should be back by the end of the month.

Tori should be listing her ewes that are for sale soon as well (S'More Shetlands).

Yearling Rams

UTS Wigan – 2011, dark moorit, superfine (AFD 22/SD 5.1/CV 23.3), excellent horns, med size, refined.  (B. McDreamie/UTS Prairie Wind).  Proven.

UTS Gabardine – 2011, shaela, fine (AFD 23.1/SD 5.7/CV 24.6), good/excellent horns, larger size.

2012 Ram lambs

I'll start the preliminary listing for RAM lambs.  Most will be for sale, pending horns of course.  Conformation has already been looked at for most so only listings up will be for those that would be available for sale or for those that I'm retaining.  I'll list the ewe lambs in another posting.  Please note - Tori's lambs are listed on her blog.

Listings are by sire, then dam. Please remember that we have over 100 purebred lambs!  Most of these I haven't had my hands on very much or at all (other than in the jug) and I just plain don't remember what they look like.  Just because I don't list something like the fleece, doesn't mean that the fleece isn't good.

Muscling and width are two characteristics we've been concentrating on for years in addition to fine fleeces and good conformations and I'm very pleased with what this crop of lambs is displaying.  Good width in the loin and pin bone area is essential in Shetland sheep for their renowned easy lambing abilities.  Good muscling covering that loin and in the leg is needed for clamoring up and down the cliffs in Shetland and to put a good sweet lamb joint on the table. 


Dungaree - 2011, Emperor's White "B2"/Dakota, white, 3rd place ram lamb at WSWF.
His micron report:  AFD 21.9  SD 5.3    CV 24.1   CEM  10.5
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

Ellie - moorit, very soft and fine, crimpy, triplet.
Ruby - white (Awt/Aa, probably b/b), twin. 
Viva - white (Awt/?), twin. 

OVERALL EVALUATIONS: I like Dungaree's lambs for crimpiness and fineness.  Good conformations and good to refined bone.  He threw a bunch of ewe lambs!


Walden - 2008, F1 Jings/Thistle Keep Prairie Smoke, grey (Ag/Aa, B/b).  Meaty conformation.  Carries spots.  Sold before taking microns.  Around 27-28 microns, low SD, crimpy, soft fleece that spins like butter. 
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

Radisson - grey kat, crimpy, twin.
Radisson - fawn kat, crimpy, twin.
Rose - grey kat, crimpy, twin.
Shalimar - grey bersugget twin.
Marina - musket, twin.
Jade - musket, twin.
Spice - fawn moget spotted, twin.
Mirky - white, single, crimpy.

OVERALL EVALUATIONS: Walden threw very well muscled lambs!  Some strong structures in this bunch.  Good crimp.  A variety of ewes were put to him so bone varies from good to refined. 


Velour - 2011, Apache/Viva, fawn kat, Reserve Champion ram at WSWF.
His micron report:  AFD 21.1   SD 4.5  CV 21.5   CEM 8.3
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

Onyx - black (B/b), twin.
Morrocco - black(B/b), twin.
Sencha - dk grey kat (B/b), twin.  Possible retention.
WS 0929 - white, twin.
WS 0929 - white, twin.   I will probably be retaining one of these ram lambs for a possible breed sire for the rare Ridland genetics. 

OVERALL EVALUATIONS: Some really fine fleeces here!  I'll be using Velour again this fall as the quality of his lambs are what I want for a balanced body, great conformations, and fine fleece. 


Perse - 2011, B. McDreamie/Britta, shaela/emsket, krunet.
His micorn report:  AFD 24.4  SD 4.7   CV  19.4   CEM 8.8
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

Madeline - emsket, twin.
Slevina - either Ag or emsket (very light), triplet.  Polled - scurred.
Fraiche - moorit, very even and very crimpy, single.  Polled/scurred.  Retaining for possible breeding for polled stock this fall.  May be available later. 
Dakota - moorit, very even and crimpy, twin.  Retaining. 

OVERALL EVALUATIONS: I wish I had put more ewes to this boy as I'm stunned by the fleeces and structures.  I "might" let one or two of his ewe lambs go. 


Coburg - 2011, B. McDreamie/Cinnibarina, shaela smirslet.
His micron report:  AFD 21.7   SD 5.4   CV 24.7   CEM 10.5
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

WS0932 - black (may turn shaela), twin.
Underhill Crystal Gayle - emsket krunet, twin.
Underhill Crystal Gayle - mioget smirslet, twin.  Possible retention for breeding.  Another possibility for retention (for mioget for our breeding) is one of Tori's - a pale gold mioget out of her Smily and Coburg.  He has  a "smile" on his forehead even better than his mother.

OVERALL EVALUATIONS: Coburg's lambs are nice and strongly structured, just like him.  Soft fine fleeces.  Refinedness.  Most of the ewes put to him were modified.


Crosswinds Pegasus - 2011, FirthofFifth Avyt/Sommerang Dolly, shaela (B/b), smirslet, sokket.
His micron report:  AFD 22.1   SD 4.4    CV 20.1    CEM 7.6
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

SP Orchid - black HST, twin.
Ceylon - black, H3ST, twin.
Monaco - black HST, twin.
Monaco - black HST, twin.  One of Monaco's is reserved.
Catriona - grey spotted, twin.
Paxina - moorit, twin.
Cinnerella - miogret smirslet, twin.
Cinnerella - mioget smirslet, twin.  One of these will be possibly retained.

OVERALL EVALUATIONS:   Lots of spots!!  Come and get them!  Strong structures in this group.  Fleeces for birth coats range from hairy dog coats to crimpy.  Since Pegasus was a 'dog coat' when he was born at Corrine's and has a superfine fleece now (just look at that report!), I'm not worried about the lamb's coats.    These ewes are more of the silky type so the lambs will be nice.    Good bone to refinedness.


WS 0923 "Black" - 2009, WS 0705/WS 0721, black.
His micron report:  AFD  27.3  SD 5.2   CV 18.9  (YM)
Ewe Name/ Ram lamb color/ descriptions

Shaughnessy - black, single.  Being retained.
White Lilac - black, single.  Possibly available.

OVERALL EVALUATIONS:  Very crimpy and soft single coats in this group.  Refinedness. 


At the moment, I have a few reservations for ram lambs (I have to pick which ones or give a a short list, which is why they aren't all listed as reserved yet).  If you are looking for something in particular, please let me know now.

For clarification - "good" bone refers to a medium light bone, not heavy.  Refined bone just means a lighter bone than good.  Refinedness in general means a lighter framed and more scupltured look.  I like a variety because rams should balance your ewes.  If you get too refined in your flock, it is too delicate and you get too small.  If the bone gets too heavy, that is incorrect as well.  Shetlands should range from good to refined bone, not ponderous nor twiggy.  Balance is always the key! 

Viking Sails

It has been mentioned before, several times in fact, that Shetland wool was separated - the coarse outer hair from the soft inner wool (for the dual coats) and the hair was used "for sails".  No reference of course, was ever given or even alluded to.  Well, at the FE, I perused (rather quickly) a couple of booths that I like.  In Susan's Fiber shop, she had a stack of the magazine Wild Fibers and this one definitely caught my eye:

Of course, I bought it and both Tori and I had to read the Gute article (also a nice article on Stonehedge, where I have some of my wool processed, like the yarn in the previous post).  Especially since the ram looks like a smirslet Shetland boy. 

Here are some facts on Gute sheep (or Gutefar):
Northern Short-tail with all of the accompanying primitive characteristics.
Bigger than a Shetland.  E: 99-165 lbs. R: 121-220 lbs.
Mostly various shades of grey, a few black or white (light grey).  Most have head spotting.
Fleece length 5-7".  Dual coated and more.
Micron count 11-202.  Yeah, you read that right.  They have a wide variation of fibers, including kemp.

Hmm . . . interesting.  So, in reading the story (by Cortright herself), a really interesting tidbit caught my eye.  A swedish prof built a Viking ship, then used Gotland wool for the sails (as Gotland is a "refined" Gute), since Gute wool was traditionally used for weaving the Viking sails.  The boat began to sink because the sails got too wet and heavy.  Plan B - use shorn Gute wool.  The boat still was sinking for the same reason.  Plan C - use rooed Gute wool.  It worked and the boat sailed (rooed wool has ends that lock in when spun because of the narrowing of the fibers at both ends, therefore locking out the water, making it easier to shed).

Moral of the story for a Shetlander - IF (and a big if) Shetland wool was EVER used as sails, it had to be rooed wool and the WHOLE SHEBANG, not just separated 'hair'.  As Shetland men were rowing around fishing in foureens and sixareens, they normally didn't have sails on their boats. 

I wonder how much Gute blood snuck into Shetland . . .