Willow is the photographic star of the Wildcraft flock, as it is she who appears in our shop banner and advert photos. She loves staring up into a camera, which as a lamb was undeniably cute and photogenic. Like our other crossbred ewes, she's a little scatty, and if she thinks you're hiding some foot shears or veterinary equipment along with that bucket of feed, there's no way you'll get near her! But if she decides you're only carrying treats, then she's very friendly. This spring Willow had her first lambs, twins. She looked after them very well, and her ewe lamb in particular seems to have inherited her photogenic features, as well as her pretty creamy fleece.

Willow is a crossbred Texel ewe, she's white with a medium length, medium grade fleece that's easy to spin. Her wool is a creamy white colour, has a pleasant feel to it and should make cosy mittens, socks, hats or other outerwear garments.

Willow was shorn in early May and her fleece sent to a small commercial mill for preparation into roving for handspinning. Our flock's fleeces were all prepared individually, so unlike many commercial tops available to handspinners, this roving maintains the character of the single sheep who grew the wool. The preparation is in true roving form, so is presented as a thin continuous strip of carded fibre. It contains a little spinning oil and some lanolin remains, making it very easy to draft and perfect for longdraw style spinning. It has been scoured gently without carbonizing agents, so you may find the occasional piece of hay or seed, this is however easy to pick out during spinning. Willow's roving is available in very limited quantity (a sheep can only grow one fleece a year!).