I still have some larger yarn companies to cover in this series on Norwegian wool, but I’m jumping to a smaller company this week to tell you about one of my favorite Norwegian yarn companies: Telespinn (click “in English” at the top of their homepage if you don’t speak Norwegian). I first encountered their yarn two years ago when I visited the Folkemuseum in Oslo, and I’m so happy to write a bit more about them.

Located in Telemark, Telespinn has their own microspinnery as well as their own sheep and Angora goats, which makes their yarn a pretty incredible farm-to-needle experience. This also means the core of their yarn content is actually mohair (from the Angora goats), but all of their made-in-house mohair yarns are blended with wool. Unlike what many of us think of when we hear the words “mohair yarn,” this isn’t brushed mohair, so the resulting yarn is much more smooth than fuzzy (though it does have a nice halo). The mohair/wool blends also have an incredible lustre, as the mohair fibers are relatively shiny. I’m particularly drawn to the candy-bright colors their yarns come in, and the light grey in the photo above legitimately looks and feels like mithril (in other words, I think this yarn is pretty magic).

Telespinn’s magnificent Angora goats (photo used with kind permission from Telespinn)

While the yarn is fantastic, one of the things I love the most about this company is their story. Yarn was just the eventual by-product of founder Bjørg Minnesjord Solheim’s decision to keep mohair goats as a way of preserving the cultural landscape. Not wanting the mohair fiber to go to waste, she decided to have it made into yarn, but that meant the wool went first to Denmark and then on to South Africa in order to be processed. Trying to find more local and sustainable ways of having the fiber turned into yarn yielded no results, and eventually (after a trip to Canada to check out spinning machines) Telespinn had machinery imported in order to set up their own mini-mill. Talk about commitment. You can spend some time perusing the “about us” page on their website if you’d like to learn more – there’s a lot of reading material there.

Telespinn has their own webstore and I’m happy to say they ship all over the world, so you should be able to get your hands on some no matter where you are. Should you find yourself heading to Telemark, it’s also possible to visit the farm, though visits need to be arranged in advance.

Pictured at top is their light fingering weight 2-ply yarn, Symre, which I’ve used for a mitten pattern that I’ll be writing about in the next post!

Previous posts in this series can be found here:
– Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk
– Rauma Garn