Sunday, March 15, 2009

any sheep out there?

when i moved to the west coast of newfoundland in 1975 there were still lots of sheep here (and wild horses on the northern penninsula highway!). sheep and a woolen mill in the codroy. sheep on the port au port. even sheep dotting the landscape of the humber valley. my friends doug and shirley raised sheep where i lived in pasadena and this time of year i'd walk over to their farm with the children and we'd feed the lambs with bottles. now there are few sheep. and no wool for sale. yesterday i was interviewed on cbc radio about etsy and at the end of the interview i put out a call for newfoundland wool. i recieved a call from a sheep farm in whitbourne and an email about a small-scale farm on the burin. i love the idea of using local (ie newfoundland) wool in my yarn, but i need now to figure out what the cost will be - postage to get the unwashed wool to me. postage to send the wool to pei to be washed and carded. the cost of processing. postage back. if it's anywhere close to what i'm paying for fleece from ontario i'll happily do it. if any of you on the west coast know of a fleece supply, please get in touch with me (sohagan@nf.sympatico.ca)

2 comments:

Shammickite said...

I bought spun wool from a Mr Howard Morrey in St John's a few yrs ago, but perhaps he doesn't have sheep any more.

Andrea said...

Hi,
I was once a student at The Anna Templton Centre. We did a lot with wool, maybe you could call the centre and ask if any of the students there would be willing to wash and card your wool. I loved doing it when I was a student there...I know back then I could've used a little extra cash and then you'd be using NL elbow grease as well as wool! Good luck.
A.B.