New Pico Accuardi Heritage Breed Roving--Naturally Dyed!

Pico Accuardi kettle dyed roving is here! Based in Portland, Oregon, Pico Accuardi is a dye company you may know of from their amazing sock yarns. Jaime knit her fabulous Daybreak from their naturally coffee dyed Stumptown colorway. We love their inspired dye combinations and were thrilled to discover that they are naturally dyeing heritage breed wools for spinners.

The Fiber Exploration Kit is a great way to get familiar with the variety and texture of different wools. In the kit you receive naturally dyed fiber from Masham, Polworth, Wensleydale, Gotland, Corriedale, Shetland, Falkland, Finn and Blue Faced Leicester. It is amazing how different breeds of wool can be so different! Silky or springy, soft or wiry, these wools are a rainbow of colors and great for needlefelting or spinning.

The various heritage breed wools also come in four ounce braids. These are great for hand spinning and wet felting. There is enough here to finish an entire project such as a hat or scarf.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the sheep:

Falkland, Gotland, Wensleydale | Blue-Faced Leicester, Shetland, Corriedale | Polworth, Finn, Masham

We Are In Love With Blacker Heritage Wool Yarns

You may know that we at Fancy Tiger can get really nerdy about sheep breeds. It has been a long time goal of ours to carry un-dyed yarns of various heritage breeds. Our dreams have finally come true! We are very proud to introduce Blacker Yarns pure breed wools. A UK company that works with and supports small sheep farmers by giving them premium prices for their wool, Blacker mills the fleeces themselves, making yarns that wonderfully represent the qualities of the wool of various traditional breeds.

May we introduce you to some of these cuties?

Southdown

Amber's favorite breed because of their cute smiling faces, the Southdown sheep is one of the oldest purebred sheep in the world and originated in Sussex, England.

Shetland

One of the smallest breeds of sheep, the Shetland is originally from the Shetland Isles. The wool comes in eight distinct colors and is considered one of the finest wools in the British Isles. We are stocking it in the natural colors, fawn and moorit.

Ryeland

These sheep are quite little and almost resemble teddy bears. The fleece is fine, crimpy and warm. We are stocking Ryeland in a natural heathered grey-brown.

North Ronaldsey

A rare sheep that grazes on seaweed, the North Ronaldsey sheep is mainly found on the island for which they are named. They are small sheep with strong wills. We are stocking it in two beautiful natural shades.

Jacob

Jacob sheep have distinctive dark brown and white fleece. They are an ancient breed of horned sheep that can have up to six horns. The two colors of their fleece are sorted to create up to five different shades of grey--brown and white together appears grey!

Wensleydale

These beautiful tall and elegant sheep have long shiny coats with fine wavy wool. This yarn is the most lustrous of all the wools and is incredibly soft.

Gotland

Gotland is a Swedish breed developed by the Vikings on the island of Gotland over 1,000 years ago. This breed is Jaime's favorite because of it's lustrous grey wool and it's magical properties. The Gotland wool is the exclusive wool used for the Elvin cloaks in the Lord of the Rings films.

Blue-Faced Leicester

Blue-Faced is known for its lovely, fine soft wool. The softness is comparable to Merino, but it has a beautiful loft and lustre. The breed has a distinctive Roman nose which gives them an aristocratic air.

Black Welsh Mountain

Black Welsh produce a near black fleece that is best for outerwear, as the beautiful dark colored wool is coarse and durable.


We are so excited about this beautiful palette of natural colors and textures and we can't wait to see what you make!

Knitting Iceland Part 5: Natural Dyeing and Spinning in Hyanneyri

Leaving the wild north of Iceland and Blönduós behind us we headed south towards Reykjavik and the Agricultural College in Hvanneyri. On the way we stopped for a magical lunch on a moss covered lava field.

The lava rocks were covered in layer upon layer of moss making it super thick and squishy. Upon closer inspection of the mossy field we discovered that it was actually an elf city! There were elf homes everywhere and carefully cultivated mushrooms and blueberries growing in the moss. We helped ourselves to some tasty blueberries and tried to go into the elf homes but we were just too big. Somehow April and Ysolda both managed to find their way into one and we now suspect they are really elves.

photo of Ysolda the elf courtesy of Debi Stolier

At Hvanneryri, we sat down to a class on dyeing wool using the native plants of Iceland. Our instructor was botanist Guðrún Bjarnadóttir who dyes yarn under the name Hespa. Guðrún showed us all types of plants she uses including mosses, lichens, lupine, birch, meadowsweet and rhubarb. She has all sorts of techniques to bring out the most vibrant colors including one method of soaking the wool in a dye bath of cow urine for up to 2 months! Mmm... Guðrún's yarns were amazing and she had a few different dye baths going for us to experiment with.

top photo of Guðrún courtesy of Debi Stolier

We were also able to get our hands on some Icelandic fleece at Hvanneryri at a spinning workshop. First we learned how to separate the thel from the tog which involves pulling the longer tog hairs while holding onto the shorter thel hairs by hand or using handcarders. Then we carded the raw fleece by hand and spun it. Amber and I each spun up all of the natural colors of fleece and plied them together to make super-cute barber-pole yarns of Icelandic wool! Our hands were super soft after spinning the raw fibers up with all of their lanolin-y goodness.


After our workshops, we were able to shop at the amazing store of the Agricultural College where they sell all sorts of naturally dyed Lopi yarn, handspun yarn and sheep horn and reindeer antler buttons. Amber and I spent tens of thousands of krona for the biggest yarn purchase ever! We have so much Lopi stashed we'll be knitting up nothing but Icelandic sweaters for months to come. Stop by and visit us at craft night to see our progress...


Check back tomorrow and we will introduce you to all of the amazing and inspiring crafters we met on our journey through Iceland!

New! Make Your Place!

We just received Make Your Place, an adorable book that will teach you the skills for a naturally clean and happy home and an abundant garden. Raleigh Briggs shares her knowledge of traditional and sustainable domestic skills in this endearing handwritten book.


This handbook is great to have around--you can learn everything from making your own natural skin care products to composting to making your own herbal first aid kit. Also, Raleigh is a hilarious writer and makes us laugh.