Wollkraut Adventskalender 2022 - 1 - The Skudde Sheep

1 - The Skudde Sheep - a rare sheep breed

Let me start by introducing the concept that has intrigued and excited me for the past 2 years: an Advent calendar with 20 grams of wool for each Advent day from a different sheep breed. I will learn every day until Christmas about a new breed and spin 20 g of its wool. They are all locally sourced and I can't wait to get my hands on the first batch.

The first package I opened after my work day was over (I am an accountant by day and a wool crafter by night) is the Skudde - this is one of the mixed wool sheep and used to be bread in Northern Europe for a long time, originally mainly in East Prussia and the Baltic States. The mixed quality of the wool means that the long guard wool lets the rain flow easily off the sheep. Frugal and ideal on extensive areas, they remain small, have little weight gain and were not considered rewarding for breeding. The breed is only preserved  because the Hellabrunn Zoo has recorded a small breeding population since 1941. 

This 20g of my first Advent surprise comes from Raabenwolle (here is a link to their website, it is in German but nowadays pages can easily be translated https://raabenwolle.de/project/skudde/) and is the first batch I spin of this sheep breed.  

They say that the washing of the fleece is done with rain water and a soft soap. I had a batch of 500g of alpaca wool last year and my fingers were quite dirty after I spun it. The water in which I washed the yarn was obviously also quite dirty. I will let you know how this wool feels as soon as I open the second surprise tomorrow.