Welcome to Montana Icelandics !!

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This business had its start in 1997 when our Grandpa got 10 Icelandic ewes and a ram. It was something for him to do in his retirement at 85 years of age ! As an experienced rancher, trapper and outdoorsman, we were touched when he and Grandma actually named the sheep and fed them crackers. His interest was in having the sheep, caring for them and producing hay for them on his small farm in West-Central Montana.

But what about all that lovely wool? That question was often brought up at family gatherings, with my name included ! The wonderful felting qualities were often mentioned, and many felt oriented web sites were directed my way. Finally I got a basic felting book, The Art of Feltmaking, and began wet felting small projects. Following felting came kool-aid dying, and the discovery of overdying the grey and brown Icelandic wool into beautiful heather tones. We took the wool to Custom Woolen Mills in Alberta for processing into carded roving and batts. Over the next few years those 10 ewes and their offspring produced alot of wool ! Last fall, at 90 years of age, Grandpa chose to sell his herd for personal health reasons. But guess what ? The wool remains, in clean and dry storage, heaps of it. Now Grandpa has peacefully passed away into Heaven and the wool proceeds are going to Grandma's living expenses.

Since 1997, I have learned wet felting and needle felting, spinning on a hand spindle and now a wheel (hooray) and knitting. It was so satisfying to produce a totally hand made hat this fall. As a beginner, I have found the icelandic wool to be easy to work with in all venues.

If you have not tried Icelandic wool before, you will find it be soft and lofty. As someone told me once, "It leaps into felt" and produces a firm felt in little time. For felted knitting, it has so far acted like commercial yarns in felting shrinkages. This verstaile wool is easy to spin as well. I spin with a semi-woolen technique and draft with 4-5" between my hands to allow the long fibers to move.

Our roving is carded roving, about 4-6 " wide. It is easy to spin from this roving, or to spread it out into small batts for felting projects. The batts we had made have all been sold. Because of Grandpa's love for the Brown Moorit, most of the roving is that color, although limited quantities of grey, black and white are also available.

Send for a roving or yarn sampler for free.

for more information call Jean Pocha (406) 793-5734
or E-mail

Roving $1.50 / oz. or $24.00/ lb, discounts for orders over 2 lbs.

Custom spinning of your Montana Icelandic roving by a professional spinner click here!

For more about Heaven

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