Fiber Fanatic Finds Favor with Farm’s Fleece
We never thought our wool was much good, so we stuffed it into massive bags the shearer provided, stored the bags in the barn, then every few years all the shepherds in the area rented a semi and shipped the bags off to a mill, where the wool was turned into carpeting.
Enter an enterprising Hit By a Farm fan with an addiction to fiber. Sherry spins like a crazy woman, and offered to turn one of our fleeces into roving and yarn. Much to our surprise, she pronounced the roving lovely, and the yarn wonderful. Who knew?
So this year we put some of the individual fleeces in their own bags, and are going to give this whole fiber thing a try (not hand-spun by me, however, unless lumpy yarn becomes trendy….) Even as we speak a nearby fiber mill is making roving from #75-101’s fleece, and yarn from the fleece of three lambs.
So, for you fiber fanatics, we’re open for business.
We’re selling the fleeces for $6/pound (they’ll weigh in at 6-7 pounds each). A bunch of us skirted the fleeces on shearing day, but didn’t have a clue what we were doing, so you’ll want to re-skirt. At least we knew to get all the poop out. There is some vm (that’s vegetable matter for you non-fiber folks), but it isn’t too bad.
We’re selling the white roving. How much? Acckk! Don’t know. You tell me.
We’re selling the yarn, which will be light gray or light fawn, and packaged in skeins of 200 yards. How much? Acckk! Don’t know. You tell me.
Good thing my writing skills are better than my marketing skills, huh?
(Let me know what you think either by commenting here, or emailing me through www.risingmoonfarm.com)
(Photos taken by Don Pitlik, www.d-charles.com)
11 Responses
Once you get things nailed down, it would be good to know the weight of the yarn (how thick it is) in addition to the skein length.
The head spins with all there is to know. I think the mill is doing worsted…is this the weight? Probably 4-ply?
Feel like I’m speaking a foreign language…
I’m a farmer wanna-be(farm animals aren’t practical for the burbs) and I love your blog. I’m also a knitter and spinner wanna-be, so I have a question. What type of sheep do you have? I do know that certain types of sheep fleece command a higher price than others.
Yes, worsted is a weight. Here’s some info: http://www.yarnstandards.com/weight.html
Karen, we raise a commercial mix, meaning they aren’t purebred show sheep. (Purebreds tend to faint at the sight of a green pasture. They want to be pampered in a barn and fed grain.)
Our ewes are a mix of Corriedale, Columbia, Targhee, Dorset, Finn, and Shropshire, with a bit of Texel thrown in. They’re bred for lambing on pasture, being good mothers with plenty of milk, and for producing lean, good-tasting lamb.
We don’t have any of the fancy wool breeds, which is why, for so many years, we assumed our wool was icky.
Turns out it’s not so icky after all!
To get an idea for your pricing take a look at this website:
http://www.tootsleblanc.com.
Actually $8 an ounce seems a little pricey…you might think about joining a yahoo group like fiber-buy-and-trade to get a good idea of what people are selling their fiber for.
I’m so glad you are doing this because I always thought (despite your claims to the contrary) that the wool would be lovely.
I would say anywhere from $7-$10 would totally be competitive with other farms who sell yarn.
I don’t spin myself, so I’m not sure about roving. Checking some of the farm sites I’ve linked below, maybe $8-$10 for 8 oz sounds about right. Fancier wools or dyed roving goes for more like $11-$14/8 oz.
All the farms listed below have online stores, too. You could consider doing that if you wanted as well, you know with all your spare time. 😉 Or you could contact some twin cities yarn shops for selling it as well.
http://www.shelridge.com/
http://www.beaverslide.com/
http://www.carodanfarm.com/
http://www.blackberry-ridge.com/yarnprod.htm
Hi Catherine, I’d love to know when your yarn is available for sale. Debbie
Another data point from a yarn-selling shepherdess:
http://dairysheepfarm.com/yarns.html
Please let me know when your rovings are available!