The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Cheviot on September 14, 2018, 01:02:53 pm
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Hello,
I thought I would pop a post here, I know a few folks on TAS have had yarn made from their own sheeps fleece, do any of you have balls or skeins sitting in the back of the cupboard that you’re wondering what to do with? If you have at least 1kg or more I would be interested in purchasing it from you, as long as it’s dry, free from moths and doesn’t smell of smoke, pets or damp.
I have my own yarn business called Hawkshaw Sheep, I use my own sheep to create the yarn, however I have been more successful than I imagined I would be, and as a consequence in 2019 I’m launching another brand name which will be yarn from sheep other than my own, I have a huge batch of fleece from another farm, away being processed at the moment, but even with that I still think it will leave me short of yarn later in 2019.
Also for next year I would be interested in buying some raw fleece from various breeds, but I’ll post again about it before next clipping.
If you’ve any questions either reply to this post or pm me.
Admins I wasn’t sure of the best place to post this, so if this is the wrong place, please feel free to move it.
Sue
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Brilliant to hear that you’ve been so successful with your ‘one farm’ yarn.
I have friends who have stock left over and maybe could be interested, but before I contact them... You’ll know how much it will have cost them to get their fleece processed into yarn, of course. Are you able to cover those costs or is this something people would only go for if they feel they have no realistic prospect of selling their stock themselves, so that any income is better than nothing? (Not being critical, not at all. Just so I know what message to pass on. Wouldn’t want to set expectations wrongly, nor to unwittingly insult anyone who is still selling yarn at a profit, nor to waste anyone’s time.)
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Thanks Sally …. was going to ask exactly that …… how much for fleece (no yarn here) …. but do have lots of Llanwenog fleece …… and how do you intend getting it to you?
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Hi Sue :wave: Well done! It's your marketing skills paying off :thumbsup:
I do have yarn, mainly Shetland and Jacob in 50 gm balls, plus Heb in cones of roughly 1kg. I would of course have the same concerns as the others about how much it will be worth to you, but there is certainly enough to make it worth your while to pop over (and see your 4 lambs-now-shearlings). Can you pm me?
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Hi, thanks for the replies,
I would be willing to cover costs plus some profit, but I can’t really give an exact figure as the most desirable yarns are worth more to me than something which is going to be harder to sell, colour is also a factor as blacks and browns are not that popular. So each batch of yarn would have to be negotiated separately.
Fleeces unfortunately would have to be local to me, as I would need to have a look at them before making any offers, I got my fingers burned this year, as I desperately needed 20kg to make a batch up to 100kg, if I’d had a choice I wouldn’t have touched them, they were quite cotted in places and full of the most evil vegetable matter, so I won’t be doing that again. As to pricing 50p to £1 per kg above wool board pricing, it is totally unviable for me to pay hand spinners prices, even if the fleeces are beautiful.
Linda your llangwenog fleeces sound really interesting, but postage costs I feel would be unjustifiable.
Fleecewife I would love to pop over and see your yarn, you’ll have a pm in your inbox shortly.
Any other queries, just ask.
Regards
Sue
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I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll be bringing my fleeces next year over to you (whether you want them or not I fear! Haha!). I’m going to have a go at hand shearing, so it might not be the prettiest or in one piece but I should have 9-10 for you... you can even include three of those into the Hawkshaw Brand! ????