Faroese Wool: What Is It Like to Knit?

Editor's Note: Knitwear designer Sissal Kristiansen wrote a fascinating article about the history of knitting design in the Faroe Islands for Farm & Fiber Knits Fall 2025. Sissal also included her Pole Vest design, which draws inspiration from traditional Faroese fisherman’s sweaters. Knitted in Navia Brushed Tradition, a 100% Faroese wool yarn in six natural colors, the airy and lightweight fabric is so unique that it deserves a closer look. Navia yarns are now made available in the US through Kelbourne Woolens.

Sissal’s Pole Vest makes use of the haloed surface of Brushed Traditon to create a lightweight fabric. Photo by Gale Zucker

We asked knitwear designer Kerry Bullock-Ozkan to give this Faroese yarn a taste test. Kerry enjoys designing with breed-specific yarns, and we’re excited to share her explorations. Find additional resources below if you would like to continue learning about sheep from the North Sea.

— Editors

Soft, Haloed, and Distinctly Northern European

I’m an unabashed fan of the wool from Northern European sheep breeds, so I was excited to acquaint myself with one I hadn’t yet spun or knitted—the Faroese. You might be more familiar with some of their cousins, including Shetland, Icelandic, and Finnish Landrace. Faroese sheep, like many of their relatives, are dual coated, with a softer, shorter undercoat and coarser, longer outercoat.
[PAYWALL] At first glance, the two balls of Brushed Tradition I received from Navia has a look and feel similar to Icelandic wool. The yarn is woolen spun, with the undercoat and outer coat spun together—similar to an Icelandic Lopi yarn—and plied into a two-ply yarn. I used two colors—White and Oak—to swatch for the Pole Vest; although I found that the Oak colorway is a bit lighter colored than it appeared on the website, it still provides a nice contrast with the white. The white is a bright shade of cream with relatively little yellow undertone.

Top row, Brushed Tradition; bottom row, handspun Icelandic wool and Léttlopi.

I pulled a couple of Icelandic yarns out of my stash to compare with the Brushed Tradition—a skein of Léttlopi yarn and a skein of my own handspun from a local flock of Icelandic sheep. The Brushed Tradition feels a bit softer in the ball than Léttlopi, but it is comparable to my skein of handspun Icelandic. The brushing creates more of a halo than is seen in the Icelandic yarns, and I noticed the halo was more pronounced in the White than in the Oak. The White ball is also a bit softer and more delicate than the Oak. This is similar to what I’ve noticed with other breeds—the darker shades of wool can be coarser than the lighter shades.

How Brushed Tradition Behaves on Needles

I first knitted a single-color swatch in Oak with the needle size suggested on the ball band, a US Size 6 (4 mm). I achieved a gauge of about 20 sts per 4" (10 cm), which puts it in the DK-weight range. At this gauge, Brushed Tradition forms a cohesive fabric with a noticeable halo that would make an excellent sweater to be worn over a shirt. Although somewhat softer than a comparable Lopi yarn, I wouldn’t rate it as next-to-skin soft for most people.

Next, I swatched for the gauge of the Pole Vest in both a single color and in the colorwork pattern. For the colorwork swatch, I used the speed swatch method of working flat using a circular or double-pointed needles and carrying a long float across the back while sliding the work to the other end of the needle as is done for I-cord. I found that the gauge I knitted flat differed greatly from the gauge worked in the round: I got the correct stitch gauge on the recommended Size 13 (9 mm) needle for the colorwork swatch (my row gauge is a bit looser at 15 rounds per 4" [10 cm]), while achieving close to gauge (at 13.5 sts per 4" [10 cm]) on a Size 9 or 10 (5.5 mm or 6 mm) needle worked flat. My tension is often slightly looser for stranded colorwork than for stockinette, so I was surprised to find that it was much tighter when working at the more open gauge.

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Swatching for the Pole Vest; shown before blocking. The floats shown on the back side of the Pole Vest swatch.

The Magic of Blocking

I swatched using various sizes of both wood and metal needles; I found the yarn to be a bit splitty when using sharp metal needles, but not so much with wooden needles. I wet-blocked the swatches in warm-to-hot water for around 20 minutes and left to dry. I didn’t stretch them, but I did pin the plain stockinette swatches, as I found they tended to curl at the edges.

Colorwork on the needles.

At this gauge, the stitches are much more open, but (as with most woolen-spun) the yarn blooms on blocking and still achieves a fairly cohesive fabric. The floats at the back of the colorwork swatch are not noticeable. The yarn also softens up a bit with blocking. Knitting at this gauge creates a fabric that is incredibly light and airy, perfect for creating layering garments that are warm yet still breathable.

Colorwork after wet finishing and drying.

Kerry's Tips for Working with Brushed Tradition:

1. Use a blunt-tipped needle to avoid splitting.
2. When working at a more open gauge, it can be harder to achieve an even tension. Take care to use the shaft of your needle (rather than the tip) to properly size your stitches.
3. Spread your stitches out on the needle to be sure your floats are long enough.
4. Similarly, when faux swatching in the round, leave a slightly longer float across the back on the first ‘round’ to allow for the cast-on stitches to spread out.
5. Wet block your fabric to allow it to bloom fully.
6. If you have difficulty achieving gauge, try different needle materials, which can make a difference in your tension.

Brushed Tradition is a unique and versatile heritage yarn. I hope you’ll give it a try!

— Kerry

Resources

• Hear from designer and Faroese wool advocate Sissal Kristiansen as a guest on the Long Thread Podcast.
• Colorwork tension trouble? Check out our tips.
• Meet Foula Wool, a small-batch yarn from the Shetland Isles.
• Get great advice on choosing colors for your Icelandic lopapeysur from Védís Jónsdóttir.

While the Pole Vest is lighter and airier than a typical fisherman’s sweater, it still embodies the essence of distinct Faroese knitwear. Photo by Gale Zucker

Subscribers can find the Pole Vest in the Farm & Fiber Knits Library.