Sandra Van Liew (Heppner) is a traditional knitter. She and her husband own the Windy Acres Jacobs Sheep Ranch, where she spins, knits, and markets her own products from her heritage breed sheep.
Bio
Sandra Van Liew is a traditional knitter and owner with her husband of the Windy Acres Jacobs Sheep Ranch. Van Liew is a fourth-generation Oregonian whose great-great grandparents came over the Oregon Trail and settled in Heppner. Since the late 1980s, the couple has been raising Jacobs Sheep, a British heritage breed. Jacobs sheep are quite distinctive with their four curly horns and multicolored wool. Van Liew especially appreciates their wool, which is very soft and comes in beautiful natural colors of black, brown and cream. Van Liew, who started knitting at the age of 12, learned to knit from her mother. She’s been spinning wool since the mid-1980s. Besides knitting hand-knit sweaters, vests, hats, and gloves for family and sale, Van Liew also sells the wool she cleans, cards, and spins to other knitters.
