Buy Yarn, Save Sheep!
Just this week My Sister Knits received a shipment of Rosa Pomar yarn from Portugal! I love everything about this yarn so much! Where do I start? With the label art? The Portuguese sheep? Rosa’s passion for saving breeds that are almost extinct? How about with the yarn itself………
We have three of Rosa’s yarns; Mondim, Brusca, and Matiz and each has their own story and label art to go with the story.
Mondim (mohn DEEM) is a fingering weight worsted spun yarn and is aptly named after a village that used to have a large sock knitting cottage industry. When you look at the label, you’ll see the bottom of a skirt and socks! There are different combinations of socks and skirts on the labels; have fun finding them all!
© ANIDOP
The wool from Campanica sheep is used for Mondim. These sheep are native to southern Portugal and are endangered. In an effort to save them from extinction, Rosa is able to purchase their wool for a value well above market price. The hope is that this will work as an incentive for farmers to keep raising the sheep.
Brusca (BRUS kuh) is a DK weight woolen spun yarn but listed as worsted weight on Ravelry so it can be worked as either weight, just be sure to swatch! It consists of 50% Saloia (SELL oy ah) wool with the other 50% being a combination of Merino Branco (white Merino) and Merino Preto (black Merino). Brusca labels show a woman hugging a Saloia sheep.
© Saber Fazer
Saloia sheep are found in two districts near Lisbon. Their numbers have been declining due to loss of grazing land to residential and industrial sites which have spread beyond Lisbon to the countryside. The sheep are kept permanently in enclosed pastures. Rosa buys all of the wool from these sheep each year and uses it in Brusca (the traditional name the shepherds called these sheep). Again, she pays higher than market value to encourage the sheep farmers.
Matiz (ma CHEES) is an Aran weight worsted spun yarn. The name means hue and can be used to describe subtle variations in color. The two sheep on this label reflect the wool blend of white Campanica and Merino Preto (black Merino).
Merino Preto sheep © Monte Dos Cedros
All of these yarns are grown, milled, and spun in Portugal. Rosa Pomar is passionate about heritage textiles and saving the sheep of her country. We invite you into the shop to see these special yarns for yourself! Oh, I almost forgot! We have beautifully made project bags with the label art on them!
Coming Up:
Sock Drive update; we’re getting closer to our goal of providing 1,000 pairs of new socks! We’re not quite there yet and there’s still time to donate!
We have a Juni & Si trunk show arriving any day! These yarns come to us from Jean, who lives in Snoqualmie, Washington and will be featured for about 10 days. Her company is named after her grandchildren Juniper and Silas and each colorway is named after a song that is either personally meaningful to Jean or is irresistibly danceable! We’ll have 50 -100 skeins of sock yarn available for you!
December 13th is our Explorer Knits trunk show from 10 -4! Ali will be here to answer any questions we may have for her and maybe even talk about her new business venture! Come one, come all!
Happy knitting,
