Wool fiber processing

Wool fiber processing

The know-how about curating, harvesting and selecting the best parts of the sheep wool and different uses according to its natural properties: socks, sweaters, woven fabrics and felted wools. Different breeds will shed different wool textures. Banking on traditional knowledge, finding the best kinds of wool from different sheep breeds and applying it to modern uses comes from cycles of investigation and practice developed throughout the decades. The yarn is colored using natural dyes many of which have been used for centuries.

687

iain

Norwegian

Intangible

409

19/06/2025

19/06/2025

https://lofoten-wool.no/en https://www.nibio.no/prosjekter/amazing-grazing-baerekraftig-kjott-og-ull-fra-sau-som-beiter-i-norsk-utmark?locationfilter=true https://www.smabrukarlaget.no/aktuelt/bonde-og-smaabruker/, https://www.norskekunsthandverkere.no/kunstnerregister/ragnhild-lie https://husflid.no/ https://www.utdanningsforbundet.no/ https://www.bondelaget.no/ Esther Haukeland, Innføring til plantefarging. Cappellen, 1982. Animalia: Norwegian wool Standard. https://www.animalia.no/no/Dyr/ull-og-ullklassifisering/norsk-ullstandard/ Beder, Nicolina J., Seyður Ull Tøting. SPF. Sprotin, 2010. Flååt, Inger. Votter i Namdalen. Nauma Husflidslag, 2010. Grimstad, Ingun K. and Sårdal, Tone t. Norsk Strikkehistorie. Vormedal Forlag. 2018. Grimstad, Ingun K. and Sårdal, Tone T. Ren ull. Aschehoug, 2013. Hrútaskrá. https://www.rml.is/is/kynbotastarf/saudfjarraekt/hrutaskra Joensen, Robert. Seyðabókin. SPF. Sprotin, 2015. Johnston, Elizabeth and Juuhl, Marta K. The warp-weighted loom. Kljásteinavefstadurinn: kljásteinar klingja. Oppstadveven: klingande steinar. Skald, 2016. Kjellmo, Ellen. Båtrya i gammel og nyt tid. Orkana, 1996. Sundbø, Annemor. Usynlege Trådar i Strikkekunsten. Samlaget, 2006. https://www.norskebilledkunstnere.no/

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current,68.1490556685704,13.7622515654953;

University of St Andrews

TEXT

716

Selecting the wool by the farmers requires knowledge: the belly wool and thighs must be taken away: it is usually damaged. The wool in the living sheep must be kept clean.. Ranghild speculates that probably in the past some could have kept some heads just for wool, probably from castrated rams. Sorting the fleece must be done very carefully: neck wool is more delicate, and better for socks.The belly wool is called buk. Lår: tight wool - Fell: fleece - it can also refer to a duvet. - vegetabiler - straws in the wool that you cant put in the spinning mill. "Det er mye rusk i ulla." to express this excess vegetation. If the sheep lie in the side they are in trouble they lie in "øbelta", and the sheep can be in mortal danger./ syner av: they stop breastfeeding. Fjøskåpe - to go in the farm milking the cows. Sheep are know to be prepared also to detect predators and they organize themselves to do watchings, or to know when there is an emminent danger (for example, an avalach).

Elisabeth Rosa Brusin, Ole Andreas Sagmo, Rebeca Franco Valle

Knowledge about different sheep breeds from Norway, their history and the different textures of their wool, and their applications to different kinds of clothing. Sheep farming and animal care and welfare are also taken into consideration in the process. It also requires knowledge about the stages of preparation the wool must go through before it is ready for shaping into yarn or unspun wool.

There are schools for learning traditional fiber and textile work. Sheep farming is an office that can also be learned, but entails practice throughout years. Keeping traditions related to sheep herding in the Lofoten islands rely much on the knowledge transmitted during generations between the farmers.

Current practitioners of the office: traditional textile workers, and farmers. They can be learnt by choosing to work in that particular work. There is general gender differences that rely on longer cultural undercurrents (ie. wool textile workers are generally woman).

Besides preserving the sense of belonging to a long-term domestic tradition, it opens the gates to thinking about fiber choices, local production and slow-fashion as gatheways to sustainable fashion industry. Tourist engage in this sustainable indrustry by choosing locally produced raw materials and products that support the local primary sector,

The current practices are not directly tied to ancetstral traditions, but the can be considere traditional. They aim to recover, mantain and enhance the former domestic textile production. The use of old breeds of sheep adapted to the climate and landscape of the area sheds a different kind of wool, more ruogh that the one obtained from breeds adapted to industrial productions such as the merino sheep. Shearig is still done manually by professional hands, but the wool is washed and combed with modern machines.

Lofotr Viking Museum, the slaughtery, the organizations Norske Kunsthandverkerer and Norske Biledkunstnerer, Småbrukerlager and Bondelaget, and Husflidlaget. Lofoten wool also offers an opportunity for elderly woman and persons in retirement, or those who simply would like to have extra income. They are organized from the workshop.

The Lofotr Viking Museum is also a heritage site that preserves old sheep breeds and showcases textile traditions from the iron age. Vestvågøy Husflidlaget also offers Lofoten wool workshops.

Loss of biodiversity,Invasive species,Coastal erosion,Sea-level rise,Increased rainfall,Deterioration of space

Loss of Biodiversity: there are few sheep farms left in Lofoten. Invasive species come with streams of imported products, vacations abroad and mass tourism. As an island, coastal erosion and rise of sea level may affect the place. Increased rainfall modifies the flora and the naturall cicles on which fodder for the sheep is produced.

Industrial production

Indrustrial production has to be used to make the business sustainable.

Human encroachment on boundaries

The increasing preasure of new inhabitants on the area and vacation houses creates conflicts with the use of pastures for the ship

Touristification,Misappropriation

Mass tourism demands more infrastructure for tourism, in the detriment of the farmland economy. Traditional weaving patterns are appropiated by fast fashion industries.

Aged practitioners,Diminishing participation,Halted transmission between generations,Reduced practice

Less people works in sheep farming. The wool is harder to obtain. It is very time-demanding work.

Rapid economic transformation

Raw material production is being increasingly outsourced, away from the country. Rural road infrastructure in the islands with few options of public transport

Lack of conservation policy

Rural-urban migration

New pastimes,Rapid sociocultural change

Craft hobbies with wool have been reduced in the past decades. At the same time, industrial production of clothes and fast fashion produced in other countries, with more affordable products, makes the products less atractive.

Loss of cultural spaces,Loss of knowledge,Material shortage,Loss of cultural significance

With the loss of traditions linked to traditional manners of processing the wool, also the old tool usage has been lost to big extends. Oral traditions preserved are very few, since the founder of the project Lofoten wool is not a local herself.

Lofoten wool is situated in the proximity of the town of Stamsund. The town belongs to the municipality of Vestvågøy, in the Lofoten Archipelago and by 2023 counts 1.104 inhabitants. The town is one of the largest fishing towns in Lofoten, and an important fishing harbour. The fishing town was established in 1983 by JM Johansen, and today houses one of the largest fish processing plants of Lofoten, a Tran refinery, and its own shipping company.

The machinery is outsourced. But this practice highlights the link between the obtention of local raw (wool) and a primary product (yarn and processed wool fabric). In the worskhops, yarn comming from the wool mill is winded with a manual yarn winder into skeins. The yarn winder is a tradtional domestic textile tool, that keeps being used in Lofoten wool. From it, sweaters, mittens, curtains, pillow cases, shalls, hats, fabric are made. Some of the objects follow traditional designs and knitting patterns, such as the sweater Islender (MN_AR_03) or the fisheman mittens (MN_AR_04).

It creates direct local employment for people hired for their skills. This helps against rural exodus, nurturing the local community development.

Sheep farming has very little impact over the local landscape. It helps preserving the landscape too. There is very waste generated during thr process of obtaining the wool. The energy employed is electric. The raw materials are sourced locally, but the wool preparation has to be outsourced from another region, since there is no local installations that offer this service and the production center is not big enough.

It diversifies the production of the region, offering locally produced textiles using local raw materials. This also benefits the local sheep farmers, that find a use for the sheep wool that would otherwise go to waste. Natural dyes produce little toxic waste.

Decent Work and Economic Growth,Industry Innovation and Infrastructure,Reduced Inequalities,Sustainable Cities and Communities,Responsible Consumption and Production,Climate Action,Life On Land

Stamsund, Lofoten, Norland

declining

MN_CP_01