From Sheep to Skein


After many, many months of impatiently waiting, our wool has finally come back from the woolen mill!  What was once growing on our funny little sheep's backs, has now been turned into yarn!  Joey got home from work before me and found the giant cardboard box in the mail.  He probably wouldn't want me to tell you this, but he told me later that he actually yelled for joy in the kitchen when he realized what was inside the box.  He had to text me a picture right away with the caption, "Our sheep made this."  Pretty exciting stuff after almost 3 years of being shepherds.


Joey was worried that it would turn into a big tangled mess if we left it as it came in the box, so he started twisting all the skeins that night.


Here they are in the natural color of the sheep's wool.  They will need to be washed again since the spinning process adds a little grease to the wool that has to be removed before we can dye any of the yarn.



Joey's birthday is tomorrow, so I went to the store and bought a bunch of stainless steel stock pots, measuring cups, and slotted spoons so we can start playing with the wool dye that my dad gave me for Christmas.  I'm sure most men would not be thrilled to receive cooking pots to dye wool for their birthdays, but I am glad I am married to a man who thinks producing a beautiful product with your own hands is pretty cool.  He's got to counteract his wool dyeing this weekend with big manly bonfires and boiling down sap into maple syrup.  Plus, he's got a giant beard that sticks up for his manhood when he's playing with yarn. It's the dream of the 1890's.  (Ever watch Portlandia?  Cracks us up.)

 


I think we will dye about half of the yarn and leave the other half natural and see what sells better.  Some people may want the natural wool or they may want to play around with dyeing it themselves.  Between wool dyeing and sap boiling for maple syrup, it is sure to be a messy weekend.  We are very proud of the wonderful things we are producing from our very own backyard. 


***After washing and dyeing the wool, we will be selling some in a local yarn store and some on our Etsy store.  There is a link to our Etsy store on the right side of the blog page if you would like to check out our yarn.  Also, if you are interested in something specific, leave me a message on the blog!***

Comments

  1. I'll definitely buy some of your yarn, can't wait to see how the dyes turn out! Also, congrats on your magazine publishing :)

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