I’m excited to share the next yarn I’ve been learning about for my “From Pasture to Needle: The Story of a Yarn” series. This time we focused on the Tunis sheep breed and some Tunis 3-ply worsted from Leatherwood Creek Farm in Pulaski, Tennessee. Sherri, my co-host on the Geminate podcast, picked this one for us to discuss next because it is one of the next sheep breeds to come to the United States.
As with other rare sheep breeds, some of the best information about them and their history can be found through The Livestock Conservancy Heritage Breeds list – Livestock Conservancy on Tunis sheep. Tunis sheep have red faces and ivory-colored fleece. They are good grazers and do well foraging on their own.
The name Tunis shows the breed’s connection to sheep from Tunisia in North Africa. In the 1700s, some forebearers of these sheep were gifted to George Washington. Eventually, the breed grew and changed to become a uniquely American breed. They are listed as “one of the oldest breeds of livestock developed in America” (quote from the Livestock Conservancy). Tunis sheep handle the heat and humidity of summers in the south well. During the Civil War, almost all the flocks were destroyed and the breed started again on farms in New England.
I didn’t find this Tunis 3-ply worsted from Leatherwood Creek Farm specifically on Ravelry while searching to see what types of projects other knitters choose to make out of it. But I did find other 100% tunis wool yarns. Almost half of the projects listed on Ravelry were hats. The knitting hivemind seems to agree that tunis yarn makes very nice hats. Other types of projects I found were wraps, scarves, cowls, felted bucket bags, and one pair of mittens. Leatherwood Creek Farms suggests that this yarn is great for “socks, hats, mittens, scarves, and other garments” (from the yarn listing on the website).
Leatherwood Creek Farm has a nice blog on their website with posts about sheep, sheep breeding, lambing, gardening, and more of the reality of living on a farm in rural Tennessee.
Stats of the Yarn:
- Name and from where: Tunis 3-ply Worsted from Leatherwood Creek Farm in Pulaski, TN
- Fiber Content: the ball band and website don’t include the fiber content but the name implies it is 100% Tunis wool
- Weight/Yardage per Skein: 200 yards, about 100 g
- Plys: 3-ply
- Feel of the Yarn: In the skein, the yarn feels sturdy and rustic. Online research indicates it should be a staple length of 3-5 inches but my skein did shed some on the workspace while winding into a ball so this may depend on the sheep, fleece, or other conditions.
- Knitting up: I knit my sample in simple stockinette stitch, cables, and texture. I used the size I normally use for worsted weight yarn and it knit up nicely. But after washing and blocking I wonder if the yarn would have been happier (and if my stitches would be slightly more uniform) with one needle size larger. I’m a big fan of cables in this yarn! And feel like it did a good job in textured stitches too. My stockinette stitch was slightly skewed before washing but seemed to square up after washing and blocking.
- Care and Washing: No information on the ball band. Experience tells me to hand wash this yarn gently and lay it flat to dry. I did that and tried to be careful to maintain the same water temperature but I do see a few spots starting to just barely felt in my test swatch.
- After Washing/Blocking: My swatch softened and filled up nicely into a solid fabric after washing and blocking. The stitch and row gauge changed after washing/blocking. Pre-washed my sample measured 4.5 stitches and 7 rows per inch. After washing my sample measured 4.25 and 6 rows per inch.
If you’d like to hear more about this sheep and yarn, listen to us talk about this breed and others in Season 4 of the Geminate Podcast.
