ABOUT THE YARN
The yarn every knitter deserves.
My passion is making wool and blended yarns that will add to the beauty, comfort, and durability of your handknits.
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Sheepish Handspun Yarns are made from the best fleece I can find; I look for the best fleece year-round. I visit farmers around New England, and I shop at annual fleece sales at Sheep and Wool Festivals.
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I think of yarn as a natural gift. It takes sun, rain, a grassy meadow, shelter, perhaps a donkey or a llama to provide protection. It takes the uncanny ability of a herding dog, and it takes a loving farmer and a skilled shearer to make great yarn.
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There are steps in preparing wool for spinning, from careful washing, flick carding, combing; or drum carding with other fibers - silk, bamboo, or mohair or alpaca. Once spun and plyed, a new yarn is soaked in hot water to set twist. The entire process takes time, care, and patience.
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I enjoy the feel of washing, carding fleece in my hands; I love the rhythm as I spin, or ply. I savor the different colors and textures of purebred wools; of crossbreed wools.
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Newly purchased fleeces make me happy about the yarn yet to be, and I am grateful that once shorn, sheep go right back to the meadow, and start growing fleece for next year.
About Sheepish Handspun
My great aunt Sadie taught me to knit when I was 7. I still love to knit, and over the years, I became disenchanted with commercial yarns, especially the acrylics and the poor quality wool yarns; they do
not provide warmth; they don't keep you dry, and they pill or tear.
And so, I decided to visit the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair many years ago, in search of real wool handspun yarn.
Before I reached the yarn for sale, I was met by a woman spinning with drop-spindle. That is a 3000 year old method of spinning. Having never seen drop-spindling, I seemed to know what it was and I knew I would bring one home. I had a lesson, and bought some Romney roving to spin. I decided to end my search for the full-bodied, bouncy, durable, lofty yarn I craved; I would make it myself. Sheepish Handspun was born.
I began waking 2 hours early to practice spindling. I spun 23 skeins of green Corriedale roving; I used hand cards to blend in some blues an yellows. I knit triangular shawl that won a prize at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Fair the next year. A day later, i purchased my first spinning wheel; a year later, I bought a Majacraft Suzie Pro - a production wheel. I now have 6 spinning wheels and 12 spindles. My steadfast companion is Waldo, my 36 year old Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot; you will see him here many times.
SHEEPISH NATURALS
Sheepish Naturals are undyed yarns spun from washed, carded or combed fleece.
You will find a wide range of natural yarns, from lightweight yarns made from extremely fine wool, to lustrous, thick yarns made from the Longwools.
Colors range from deep browns and grays to warm whites.
I use a spinning style to keep the color variations in yarns, called lock-spinning. I do not blend the wool, but spin from individual locks for beautiful visual texture.
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