The people
Ragnhild Lie
The founder of Lofoten Wool, Ragnhild lives and work on the farm where she continues to manage and develop the business. Ragnhild has knitted, chrochet, braided, sewn and woven since she was little. In 1997 she graduated with a MA in Textiles from Bergen school of Art, and her broad range of textile-based experience includes fine art, theater and education. She has worked at Sjølingstad Wool Mill, studied tapestry at Oslo University College of Art and Design, taught at Lofoten School of Arts for kids and led courses from kindergarten to university level. She is a renowned lecturer and textile artist within the textile field in Norway.
Ragnhild loves her sheep; from walking around the fields putting up fences, to keeping a close eye on them during the lambing season and visiting them in the hills where they spend the summer grazing. In short, living closely with nature and her flock.
Leander Berg Fredriksen
Leander helps out on the farm throughout the year and is an agronomist with a wide knowledge of sheep farming. The first farmer to introduce rare breed Spæl sheep to the Lofoten Islands, he continues to breed them on his farm situated on the north side of the Flakstad Island. You’ll find Leander’s Spæl sheepskins available from our shop.
Leander is always on hand to help with sheep shearing, feet clipping and administering annual vaccinations. He also helps with fencing, summer shepherding and feeding during the winter.
Solveig Elton Jacobsen
Solveig has a degree in Fashion Design and broad experience within the industry. She has had her own clothing label, dyed fabrics and designed embroideries for Alexander McQueen in London, and travelled the world with production and design inspiration for the commercial brand Bikbok. Now, having moved to the most beautiful peninsula in the world, she gets to work with what she loves the most; a great mixture of numbers, design, concept development, contact with people, animals and closeness to the craft.
The knitters
All our knitted products are handknitted in Northern Norway by skilled ladies who sits at home and knit.
Some of them like to knit socks, others mittens. Some like the soft 2 ply yarns from them lambs wool, others prefer the chunky wool from the Old norse Sheep. Together these experienced and competent hands creates a range of products that we sell as finished products or knitting kits. As well as test knitting our ideas and patterns some also creates designs for us and are involved in the product development process.
The sheep
These animals are clever. The leader of the pack is Sigrid, The Minister of Internal Affairs. She is the oldest of our sheep and makes sure all of them behave like sheep. The Minister of Defence is Rulle, who survived rolling down the field when she was born! She closely follows everything that happens outside of the flock and is often found up on the hill scouting. Our flock of 30 ladies spend their lives together, until November when a new male sheep (a Ram) is introduced from another farm. Mating usually begins in December, with the Ram using scent to keep track of who´s been fertilized and who´s on heat – until his job is done!
Of all the native breeds, Old Norse sheep are the oldest species found in Norway and often called the Viking sheep, as the Vikings are believed to have brought them on their voyages west. Research has indeed found they are related to the sheep from vesterled; namely Iceland, the Farao Islands and Shetland. Hardy and sure-footed, Old Norse sheep generally give birth without difficulty and show good mothering skills, with a natural instinct to watch for danger throughout the year.
