Driven Away

Wool Driving Glove

Tight, fitted Icelandic woollen-knit driving glove, knitted as a single piece, shaped and darted on the hand over the palm of a man named Sruli in Reykjavik.

Sleek and slim gloves

for strangling and driving

It was once a sheep, lost in the awkward grassed hills that cover Iceland, that gave its coat for yours.  These sheep*, genetically unique to Iceland, are annually tracked down on foot, herded in by the children of the men and women of the country, and shorn.  The wool is carded, spun and knitted in here to our design.

And where I grip and where I go

To the limits of this, I drive as the snow.

~

Knitted on a mysterious green machine with no numbers on it, and sewn on a Juki DDL 5550-6, 

and by Hand-held Needle.  

 

*Made from the wool of The Icelandic sheep = Íslenska sauðkindin [a patched history]

Pure descendants of the same stock as the Norwegian Spelsau, brought to Iceland by the Vikings prior to 900 Anno Domine, Icelandic sheep have been bred unmixed for one thousand, one hundred years in a bitter, harsh environment. The baron moss-fields of Iceland yield rare game and consequently they are efficient herbivores.Icelandic skins come in many colours and generally are not dyed. The hide is quite soft and are on average 6 square feet (0.56 m2) to 8 square feet (0.74 m2) in size. Often left unshorn for the winter, the wool length can be up to 8 inches (200 mm) in length.

Icelandic fleece is dual-coated, and this wool is made up of two types of fibres: coarse and fine.  The long outer coat is called Tog and the fine inner coat called Thel. Tog is generally classified as a medium wool around 27 micrometres in diameter. This wool is good for weaving and for use in other durable products and it is long, glossy, tough, and water resistant. Thel, being the finer wool and classified as such, is generally around 20 micrometres in diameter. This finer wool is used for garments that touch the skin as it tends to be softer and more insulating, providing a high resistance to cold and possessing a unique texture and natural colours.