STILL working on the clean part of this massive Shetland musket/mioget fleece. I'm ALMOST ready to wash another few lbs of this fleece. 😵💫
Parts of the fleece are clean enough to spin from the lock. (The bottom of the image has a stubborn felted tangled spot. Ignore it. 😆)
Shetland sheep are technically placed under the primitive breeds of sheep. That is, they haven't been "improved" by cross breeding with other sheep breeds to produce uniform colored fleece, or larger bodies, or "softer" fleeces. (Shetland fleece can be soft. It just depends on flocks and genetics.)
Their fleece is EXTREMELY elastic tho. And fluffy when spun into yarn. Very insulating. The sheep had to evolve to live in a harsh climate.
The reason people think of sheep as white is that many "improved" breeds were bred to have white fleeces. I think in most sheep now, having colored fleece or spotted fleece is a recessive trait, as in its rare. That's what the wool industry/yarn industry wants.
Its like having a grey, brown or black merino sheep. Its super rare because the industry wants white sheep for textiles.
If you only see white sheep, you'll think all sheep are white. *shrug*
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