This year’s conference (2024) was the 11th since 2010 when Karin Flatøy Svarstad founded the project around North Atlantic Native Sheep Wool. For me it was the first conference of this kind but I happily took the opportunity to visit the Faroe Islands. From Greengate’s website , here is what it’s all about: «The focus is on native sheep breeds and wool production in the North Atlantic region. This conference brings together farmers, researchers, artisans, and enthusiasts who share an interest in the conservation and promotion of native sheep breeds and their wool.[…] The North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference is an important gathering for those interested in the sustainable development of the sheep and wool industry, with a particular focus on native breeds that have a rich cultural and environmental heritage.»
So, what’s so special about the North Atlantic sheep? First, they all have short tails from birth. Next, they have double coated fleeces, some also might have kemp. In most countries, sheep have been bred to specialize in wool, milk or meat. Not so in the North Atlantic region and here is what I have found in a summary of an article in the book «Textiles of the Viking North Atlantic»: «Product specialisation in sheep breeds was not desirable everywhere. In the far northwest fringe of Europe, characteristics found in wild sheep such as horns, a moulting fleece and hairy wool that were being eradicated elsewhere were kept. These traits were beneficial for sheep in this environment and useful to their owners. People in northern latitudes required sheep that could be relied on to produce a range of quality products and remain viable to reproduce a healthy new generation. This was particularly important for adventurers, explorers and settlers who set off from their Scandinavian homeland to establish a new life in the North Atlantic. Subsistence agropastoralism relied on versatility, not specialisation, and influenced sheep husbandry strategies and breeding.» (have a look at this website).
The conference started on Thursday 12th of September with registration at the first venue, Broncks, and then a guided walk tour in the city center of the capital Tórshavn. We learned a bit about the islands’ history and admired the old red painted houses that nowadays host the Faroes’ government and administration. What I liked most about those old buildings are their green roofs: From above they must look like meadows. Even some modern buildings have that kind of roof. The rest of the day was spent setting up the exhibition about North Atlantic Sheep and Wool products.
Friday 13th of September: The conference started with the usual welcoming talks and introductions of the hosts: Karin Flatøy Svarstad (Norway) and Jens Ivan í Gerðinum (Faroe Islands), after a short coffee break some more talks from Svanhildur Pálsdóttir (Iceland), Ellen K. Frederiksen (Greenland) and Jane Cooper (Orkney). After a delicious lunch we were driven to two Faroese yarn producers, Navia and Snældan. The yarn production faces the well known problems: economically viable scouring of the wool, carding and spinning of the fibers without kemp hairs and hopefully ending with a soft yarn. As consumers, we often want the softest yarn to work with but forget that not all superfine yarn is suitable for all kinds of garments. In any case, a lot of the participants purchased some balls of yarn in each of the shops where they offered us a discount, too.
On Saturday, we changed the venue to the Hafnia Hotel, on the panoramic floor. There, we listened to more talks: Satu Kumpulainen (Finland) talked about EWA and her spinning mill in Finland, Meg Rodger (Hebrides) about her yarn from Seafaring Sheep (The Birlinn Yarn Company), Ronnie Eunson (Shetland) about Shetland Wool Week, Siggi Gunnarsson (Iceland) mainly about Istex, Marita Vestergaard í Lágabø and Barbara Vestergaard (Faroes), Alison Gault (researcher from the Belfast School of Art) who mentioned a very nice phrase: Wool borrowed from the soil not taken from the earth and Kathleen Vaughan (Canada) The future is Wool. After another very delicious lunch at the Hafnia Hotel, we were split up into our workshops: Workshop 1: Wet felting with raw wool, instructor Heidi Greb; Workshop 2: Crochet with raw wool, instructor: Patt Lucas Petersen; Workshop 3: Faroese knitting with Sara, instructor: Sára Mrdalo; Workshop 4: Networking with EWA (European Wool Association) with Satu Kumpulainen. The day was rounded up by a wonderful Gala Dinner on the panoramic floor. As surprise guests we welcomed a group from Klaksvik that danced the famous Faroese chain dance to which the dancers sing local ballads. These ballads were the main reason why the Faroese language has survived
Sunday started with some more talks: Helga and Michael Scott (North Ronaldsay), Jenny Shepherd (Isle of Man) about the special Manx Loaghtan breed, Viveka Velupillai (Shetland) (Uradale Yarns), Jan Broda (Poland) and Kadri Tali (Estonia). After lunch we had our last excursion: a visit to the Agricultural Agency Búnaðarstovan and to the National Museum of the Faroe Islands.
As you can see, this was a VERY intense weekend about wool and sheep and I can only list all the interesting talks but it would be way too long to write about each one. But in general, the talks were encouraging and giving us hope for the European Wool in the future. Many low scale producers of yarn have been doing an excellent job marketing and promoting their yarns. If we all would only take it to our hearts that woolen garments are not only much healthier for us to wear but also longer lasting and good for the environment after using them, the future will be a better place. I am sure of that.
Thanks for your attention and reading this blog up to this point! Happy crafting!
