Saturday, July 08, 2006

Sheepish information

Now that my interest in all things woolly has taken a quantum leap, it has been very interesting finding out the history of the various breeds of sheep. Different breeds are suitable for differing purposes (or combos of use): Wool for spinning / weaving knitting/ crocheting/ felting/ art...., meat, milk, pelts and other purposes like helping keep the house warm in “the olden days”. I didn’t know that felt was long used in machinery too! Today prolly replaced by synthetics but gaskets- who da thunk. Not I! Until i started to research all this...

Here is a link to 500 uses for felt..

Which reminds me- As for Global warming- from the website I was reminded that Sweden used to have a climate similar to France today ....long before Petrochemicals were around...Anyway, I’ll spare you most of my opinion about the current media hype of “proof” regarding the ostensibly current, so-called Global Warming.

The animal husbandry in selective breeding of sheep involved goes back thousands of years and many distinct breeds have their origins in the crosses of others. Click HERE -Northern Sheep Breeds

The above website has history, maps with links, huge list of breeds and pix/ info ...WoW!

There is considerable controversy over when and from what wild species the first domestic sheep descended. Current chromosomal and archeological evidence indicates that the divergence occurred about 9000-11000 years ago and that the first sheep domesticated were from the mounflon (Ovis musimon) flocks from Sardinia and Corsica. (Grzimek 1990)

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About Me

Marin County, California, United States
I work for 2 non-profits in Marin County CA (near SF) that serve the Developmentally Delayed. I was introduced to weaving and knitting at a very young age. Over the years I have always had knitting on hand. There was a time where I was severely chastised for being so old fashioned, so it is great to see the upsurge in the home arts now going on! I have expanded into machine knitting; fortunately there is a great Guild nearby that has really been great. Spinning Fibers is a new thrust as well, and felting has creeped in too. If only I had more time...