Do you know where your yarn comes from? We do, and we’re here to tell you about it!
100 sheep and 10 years later, Debbie, a shepherd, spinner, and fiber artist, started Stonehedge Fiber Mill, providing custom fiber processing services as a way of adding diversity and value to the farm. Her goal was to be able to process 500 pounds of fiber a month. Sounds reasonable, right?.Within the first year of operation, Debbie realized that the milling equipment she had purchased couldn’t meet her needs and was too high-maintenance. (I think I may have dated her milling equipment back in college…) What to do? Well, if you want it done right, do it yourself!.
Enter Chuck, with a 30 year background in production methods and engineering, and Stonehedge Fiber Milling Equipment Inc, was born. (You know, just a few horses, maybe some sheep… nothing big.) With the equipment that Chuck produced, they were soon able to process over 1500 pounds of fiber a month..
Shepherd’s Wool is made from fluffy soft Merino wool, dyed in the wool to Debbie’s specifications and then blended and spun at the mill, allowing Debbie to create beautiful heathered and marled colors.
The yarn is worsted spun, which makes it smooth and durable, with great stitch definition for lace, cables, and textured stitch patterns. It’s also great for colorwork and felted projects.
Debbie is now producing Shepherd’s Wool in both worsted and fingering weights (and we’ve got them both!)
I’m thinking of some colorwork mittens for the winter, how about you?
Kate Gilbert’s Bird In Hand pattern uses worsted weight yarn in two colors, knit firmly for warmth. Cozy! Register for the class here.
Tuulia Salmela’s Deep In The Forest Mittens use fingering weight yarn in an unconventional asymmetric design – the designer points out that one advantage of this is that if you make a mistake that no one will notice!