The project is called Värtsilän Villa ja Värjäämö (VVV for short). The wool is from a very specific type of Finnish Landrace Sheep, Kainuun Harmaa (Kainu Greys) - link. The sheep are organically raised.

Most of the so-called "Finnwool" available (even in Finland) is actually just fleece of sheep grown in Finland, (of indeterminate breed X Finn) and it is this wool that has been sent to England, in bulk, for washing and the general mix of wool is then sent back to Finland for final processing... dyeing, carding and spinning. This is the "Finnwool" that is generally sold in Europe. We have experience of this so-called "Finnwool" in both the UK and the USA and found them similar. The wool we resourced in the UK labled Finnwool is actually "Finnish Fleece", this was confirmed by the distributor. It still felts, but not like pure Finnwool. The main differences are the finess and softness of the wool, lack of hairs and speed of felting of pure Finn. I do not know of anywhere outside of Finland that processes pure Finnwool. (if anyone does know, please let me know). Swedish "Finull" (Fine wool) is actually a Finnsheep "descendent"?? so I think this could also be classed as "Finnwool".

Problem is, Finns are such good breeders, they are crossed with everything else to improve "turn over". (and suprise... even with merino... now that is a wool we would love to see). Finns are too small for a meat sheep and don't give enough wool for a wool sheep so they are just used to improve breeding. Even in Finland a lot of Finns are crossed with Texel and Oxfords to bulk them up, but the felting qualities of the wool suffer badly. This is one of the goals of our wool project... to hunt down pure Finns and try to convince the breeders to keep the breed pure...

The information about our carding costs and processing is competely incorrect but it is also our business so I will not explain.

More info about Finnwool and sheep: link

Thanks for your patience.

Karoliina and Roderick