Slate Grey Felted Fleece Rug ‘Ivar’ – Handcrafted in Wales

This beautiful felted fleece is made with the whole fleece of Ivar the sheep. It is a good size rug with smooth locks that are the most pretty slate grey colours. Featuring thick warm natural wool felt on the underside this rug is wonderfully cosy and durable. The felt features a unique pretty design created from handspun wool yarn that complements Ivar’s pretty fleece and features his name needle felted into the felt.

The rug: This felted fleece rug is very pretty. Handcrafted using the whole of Ivar’s fleece and backed with wool from other sheep in the flock. This is a medium/heavy weight fleece due to the solidness and thickness of the felt backing. The rug itself is a large size natural shape. The backing felt is wonderfully thick and features a unique design made from handspun yarn. This design is carefully created prior to felting so it becomes one with the fleece during the felting process. Ivar’s name was needle felted on as a finishing touch. The fleece itself is soft with tighter curls down the centre and more open wavy locks on the rear and front of the fleece. It has a lot of the characteristics of a Gotland and Icelandic fleece like the loose wavy curls and beautiful glossy shine. This fleece will make a superb luxurious rug due to the thickness of the felt. It would also be ideal to use as a meditation rug. You could also drape in on the back of a sofa or use it as a heavy throw on a bed. Due to the thick felt it does not drape and bend and readily as thinner fleeces. It is naturally minimal moulting thanks to the quality of Ivar’s fleece and so suitable for a variey of uses.

The sheep: Ivar is a beautiful character amongst the flock. He is an Icelandic cross Gotland sheep and has the most gorgeous handsome face. He is very greedy and very pushy when it comes to food. He will shove his nose in any pocket hoping to snuffle out a treat. His mum is Frieda a pure Gotland sheep and his dad is Sven who is a pure Icelandic sheep. Ivar was one of triplets. Sadly his weaker little brother did not survive but his sister Astrid did and the pair are utterly inseparable.

The process: This rug has been made with the whole of Ivar’s fleece from his 2024 annual haircut. Carded wool from some of our other sheep including Tawny, Marmalade, Minnie and Ivar’s mum Frieda is placed on the back and then the abstract yarn pattern is arranged upon this using my own handspun yarn. Everything is then felted by hand to become one. It is made with a lot of care and time entirely by hand. Working the felt slowly like this makes for a much stronger even smooth felt. No felting machines or rollers are used to speed up the process nor washing machines or driers.  This is a completely handmade product every element has been created by my hands and the flock at our farm in Wales – from shearing the sheep to washing and carding and spinning the wool to the felting process itself. Made as naturally and as nature-friendly as possible. The sale of this item directly sustains the sheep it pays for their feed and upkeep of the land and barns enabling the flock to live long happy lives here munching away and growing wonderful wool.

Details:

Size: Measurements taken on the fluffy fleece side. The rug is a natural irregular sheepskin shape it measures approx 125-140cm in length and 85-100cm approx in width with the narrowest measurements at the neck and places where the fleece draws in and the widest parts being across the middle and rear leg area.

Wool texture: The feel of this fleece is soft and smooth.  Ivar’s fleece is a lovely combination of the Icelandic and Gotland breeds. The backing felt is lovely and soft but may feel a little prickly in places where the roots of the fleece poke through the felt, this is normal and shows how well the two halves (fleece and carded backing wool) have become one.

Colour: Natural warm cslate greys ranging from very light to dark with small cream areas and some sunbleached brown tips to the darker locks. Predominantly pale grey, browns and creams on the backing felt. Please see all photos of the rug in different lighting conditions.

Hair loss: Minimal – there is a little loss of hair which is normal. Ivar’s fleece is a particularly good minimal moulting fleece due to the type of wool. All felted fleeces moult or shed to some degree some more than others. Moulting typically lessens over time.

VM(aka hay/grass seeds etc):  Minimal. As always you may find the odd wisp of hay or grass seed from the Welsh Hillside within the fleece and felt I have done my best to remove the ones I came across. There may be the odd bit of hay deep in the spine/center curls of Ivar’s fleece but they are few and far between. This is a natural item gently made by hand and sheep. There is a whole story behind it! The wool it is made from has spent a whole year outside growing on a sheep. It’s been through a lot, it’s seen a lot, it’s kept a sheep warm and dry and even cool at times.. its probably been dragged through a hedge (or two!), splattered with mud at some point, sprinkled with hay at another and rolled around in the spring clover as it naturally started to rise and break away from its 4 legged creator and I got my shears out – all that and the wool still looks beautiful.. none the worse for wear.. isn’t wool amazing!

Fleeces naturally get washed during the felting process and then they all get a proper wash or two after they are felted so they are thoroughly clean and smell divine. They are left to dry in the open air or sometimes draped beside the stove in winter. I am passionate about keeping things natural and energy use to a minimum when making my woollen crafts. Hence I do not wash fleeces in a washing machine or use a tumble drier to dry and fluff them up.

If you have any questions or queries at all please send me a message I will be happy to help.

You can meet Ivar and read more about him and his pals here.