The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: epherdwicks on March 15, 2017, 05:00:15 pm
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Hi Anyone got any bright ideas what I can do with the wool from my few herdwick sheep? Seems such a waste not to use it, but it is so coarse no-one wants it.
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Use it to stuff pillows for dog bedding? Not sure if it felts but you may be able to give that a go too
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You could possibly use it for making floor rugs on a peg loom. Look on you tube for ideas. Peg looms aren't expensive , or you can make one yourself. You realise this is the top of the slippery slope into all things fibre!
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I've seen some lovely rugs comstructed from Herdwick wool and a peg loom. The owner of the flock had also put a lot of work into getting some wool spun at great expense, the impression I got was that it was v difficult and didn't produce a good product.
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www.woolclip.com (http://www.woolclip.com)
Woolclip are based in Cumbria and love herdwicks. They might have some ideas in their gallery, or maybe you could get to woolfest itself. I love their felted herdies.
I'm sure I've told the tale before of my MiL knitting me a jersey in Herdwick yarn. It apparently made her fingers bleed - I think a lot of nasty names for me were knitted into that garment ;D :knit: . Then of course I could only wear it on dry extremely cold days, so not very often. It was immensely warm - you can see how the sheep are so hardy :sheep:
I like the idea of a pegloom rug - no skill required and the finished product would be indestructible :thumbsup: . You could also try felting a fleece into a vegetarian sheepskin, which is mentioned in the TAS crafts section. It wouldn't be cuddly, but it wouldn't wear out for many years on the floor.
Heb fleece can be used to repair potholes and I think herdwick would be even better. Dig out the pothole a bit, line with a herdwick fleece, fill with rough stones, then drive over it a lot. The fleece felts and holds the stones in place for much longer than just refilling the hole with stones alone.
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Wool Clip are inspiring - always, but especially in their many uses of Herdwick wool. I particularly like Pam Hall's woven dyed Herdy fabrics which make beautiful hardwearing bags, upholstery and so on.
Not all Herdy fleece is very coarse, some is much less so. Never soft, but can be perfectly spinnable without lacerating fingers! What Herdy is wonderful for is dyeing - the natural grey tones give a gorgeous heathering effect through the overdyed colours.
Haven't heard the pothole idea before; we have a good collection of them here, and plenty of Zwartbles fleece... might suggest we give it a go. Thanks, FW! :)
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Ever so slightly off topic but there is a tv programme called money for nothing where the presenter is at a skip site. She takes random stuff from the public and then gets designers to modify the item and then sells them for extortionate prices. The other day she took a pad of wool shreds that had been used as packaging - she then made 5 little wool felted birds which were then sold on for 40 pounds each!!
maybe your herdwick fleece could be made into something similar - good luck!!
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I love the pot hole idea. We have plenty of herdwicks and potholes in Cumbria! :idea: