Wool saved the Faroese

Lifesaver, livelihood and lively tradition. The story of wool is the story of how the Faroese found solutions during periods of isolation, of how they survived on these cold wet islands through centuries

Wool’s rich history and craft must not die. This is the firm belief of 90-year-old Ása Hátún, who last year published the book ‘Søgur um ull’, ‘Stories of Wool’. A book written for adults and children, beginner crafters as well as master woolworkers.

She hopes it will inspire children to carry on the craft and designers to develop it further.

Craft Handed Down Through Generations

In her writing Ása draws on her 45 years of work as a teacher and teacher trainer. She was taught the craft by her mother, who learnt from the generations before her.

‘Stories about Wool’ features stories and techniques from 1900 to 2000. It ends with Ása’s retirement and begins with her mother, who grew up in Elduvík village encircled by high mountains, it was very isolated particularly during WWI.

“My mother experienced this isolation like living in the Middle Ages. They were eight siblings and had to make all their clothes. No stores sold cloth, so fundamental knowledge about wool was a matter of life and death,” Ása reminisces. WWII

Name: Ása Hátún

Partner: Widow of Ólavur Hátún

Occupation: Retired school teacher and teaching instructor

Children: Helena, Heini and Hjálmar

Grandchildren: 9

Greatgrandchildren: 9 brought much the same isolation, but found Ása’s mother a married woman in the village Kvívík, where they also relied on wool to keep warm.

Ása’s mother was a gifted storyteller and became a teacher, “Thankfully she took me along and I got to soak up her knowledge.”

Teaching The Faroese Way

Ása graduated as a teacher in Denmark in the 1950s. When she later started training teachers in the Faroe Islands, she found that the curriculum was Danish.

“Students knew next to nothing about wool or woolwork, though they were superb knitters,” Ása put it down to the Danish curriculum, there is no comparing Faroese and Danish wool and woolwork.

Ása feared that the ancient knowledge and craft would be lost within a generation. She demanded that woolwork be included as a subject at teacher training college with a Faroese curriculum.

She eventually got her way, but found that in putting together the syllabus and lesson plans she too needed to know more. Ása contacted older women around the archipelago and asked them to share their knowledge and skills.

Ása grew in skills and confidence and her syllabus in popularity. Her book spans everything from basic techniques that are easy to teach children, to a wealth of images of projects and pieces, she hopes might serve as inspiration for designers and artist.

More Awareness Of Reuse And Recycling

Wool traditions were born out of a need to survive. That need has dissipated if we consider everything available at the shops today. Ása is concerned, “You can get anything. Since the 1970s people have been buying and throwing away.”

Ása remembers her mother reusing the backs of woollen vests to make children’s jumpers. Then she would colour and decorate them with stitches, “there appears to have been a change lately. The Faroese are more aware of living greener and think about reuse. (...) The way we have lived for decades cannot continue,” Ása emphasises.

Creating Is Good For Mental Health

Making things yourself is not only good for the environment, but also mental health.

“Woolwork is an opportunity to immerse yourself. Somehow it contrasts with life today where everything has to be done quickly. It’s the creative process that is calming and good for the soul. If you place children in a heap of wool a wonderful calm befalls them. That is good, considering how restless so many children are today. And it’s like that for all of us. When I sit down to spin, I forget time and place and just am,” Ása explains.

Wool As A Saviour

Wool and Faroese weather are a match made in heaven. Wool doesn’t require frequent washing, which has stood sailors in good stead, all they had to do was hang their woollens out on deck and they would self-clean. Wool doesn’t smell as much of sweat and, crucially, wool can retain about 60% humidity without feeling wet and the moisture contributes to insulation, like in a wetsuit.

“There are examples of seamen, who have been sitting wet in lifeboats after accidents. The ones in Faroese garments survived, while the ones in thin foreign garments did not,” Ása recounts.

The significance of wool for the Faroese can hardly be understated. There is no doubt that ‘ull var Føroya gull’ wool was Faroe gold, a trite but true adage of the Faroese treasure.

The question is if this remains true? For Ása the answer is a resounding yes, “I think it remains a form of gold in the Faroes, but in a different way. Making us aware of the environment, helping us understand the significance of what our surroundings have to offer and passing on our cultural legacy, and then it is good for the soul. The best thing would be if we no longer burned any wool, but used it,” Ása Hátún concludes.