A closeup picture of silvery-gray wool, freshly washed and drying by a fire.

Another view of the gray wool, with a hand holding some long locks. This part of the fleece is a darker color.

A cattle dog, with gray fur that's a color a bit like the wool, looks at the camera as he stands next to the basket of wool.

Drying wool by the fire. This is my gray Romney ewe, Ergo. Usually I have this wool made into yarn, but my local mill has stopped custom processing, so 🤷🏼‍♀️. Some of this was ordered as washed locks, and is going to ship out as soon as it's dry.

#wool #localwool #romneysheep 🧶

Mark your calendars for Fibershed's Fiber Farmers' Market in Point Reyes Station, CA this Nov 8th! Full Circle Wool will be there, along with Hazel and 20+ other local fiber farmers and artisans! #fibershed #localwool #wool #farming #pointreyesstation

Yay! My sweater at Dutch Design Week. A combination of two designs, Epic Bag and Out of Office sweater. Knit with regional wool, Campine heath sheep for the expo Wool: rediscovered at New Order Of Fashion. #ddw #knitsky #knitepicshit #wool #localwool #fortheloveofyarn #Ravelry

Pretty lady holding colorful skeins of yarn in a booth at a yarn festival.

Ash is all set up at Rhinebeck! Building 22, booth 11. All wool in the booth is grown by our flock and hand dyed by Ash!

#rhinebeck #rhinebeck2025 #nysheepandwool #wool #knitting #farmtoyarn #pastureraised #organicwool #handdyedyarn #smallfarm #localwool #shopsmall #supportlocal #yarn #romney #nys

Although I am not known for being colourful personally, I LOVE nerding out on colour! VIsual effects, combinations, tertiary, split complimentary, analagous, tints, tones, historic, and modern. So, this love is being made into local "waste" fibre roving! #localwool #ontariofibreshed #handspinning

Let's see how the roving spins up!
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Once throught the false twist & another set of rollers, it's roving. It's strong enough to go through a guide & wound into a "bump" or oblong ball of roving. There's still some VM left, but nothing compared to where it began.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

The veil goes through the circular diz, compressing it, making a "rope". Next is a set of rollers, flattening the rope. The false twist compresses & "locks" the fibres together.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

ONce on the doffer drum, it's taken off with the doffer comb. It looks like it's scraping it, but it is really being combed. The wool likes to stick to itself, creating a cascade of wool fibres.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

The wool then gets transferred to the smaller stripper, then to the larger worker roller to be taken to the drum. This also cleans the wool and evens it out. 
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Carding begins with the licker-in. It begins to distribute the wool along the rollers as evenly as possible.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Skeins of wool yarn on a drying rack. They range in color from a sage green to gold and deep yellow.

A student in a recent workshop gifted me Tansy from her garden, and I got some great color from it.

#botanicaldye #localwool

Let's pick it again to remove more VM and open the fibre up even more to make carding easier.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

After the first round of picking, the wool is called cloud. The locks of wool have been separated.
#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Once washed & dry, the wool is picked to open it up. It's the first stage of removing VM (vegetable matter). The fast-revolving spiked drum of the picker can be very dangerous. NEVER put anything close to it while running.

#ontariofibreshed #localwool #allwoolisgoodwool #ontariowool #ontariosheep

Dyeing local wool handspun yarn (from raw fleece) for a commissioned project. 🌲🐑🧶 #rawfleece #localwool #handspunyarn #handdyed #weavingproject #gulfcoastnative

Handspun yarn from raw fleece going in the dye pot today. #rawfleece #handspun #localwool #yarn

Tomorrow the school will open for the 2025 season, marking fifty years from our founding by Norman Kennedy in 1975. Our year begins with Fleece to Fulling, a month-long intensive program where participants will make blankets from shearing to fulling the cloth.

#localwool #woolcarding #woolspinning

Mary, a Cotswold ewe, waits in the barn for the veterinarian to help make her eyes more comfortable. Mary is wearing a blue and green halter, and her head is turned to the right, towards an open window.

The flock in the barn with a helper who is trimming hooves. Blue paint stick marks look like a cross on the forehead of one ewe who is looking towards the camera. The blue marks say: 1 - she had been vaccinated, and 2 - her hooves have been trimmed.

Back in the pasture after their "spa day," the sheep are eating hay under a Bluebird sky. Lester, the ewe with the blue cross on her forehead, steps towards the shepherd for scritches.

Another busy day in the barn. All 37 sheep got vaccinations and hoof trims, and some who needed it got extra care. Mary, one of my rescue sheep, got surgery for entropion (eyelashes turning in). It's usually treated when a sheep is a lamb.

#spinnersflock #localwool #nnef #vermont

Our worsted sample in the breeze!

#handweaving #handwoven #worsted #localwool #localfiber #bunting

7/8 of the lambs so far, with one more ewe on the way. The collective nursery is beyond delightful.

#lambs #springlambs #localwool #localfiber #fiberisfarming #growyourown

A very skinny, very elderly ewe had the whole bale (and the snow) to herself last night - It's Lachtna, Nimbus' mom. She was happy to join the other elders in the barn this morning.

The view inside the barn; a little crowded, but not too bad. Peter is looking towards to open doorway, and Mary is peeking at me through her long forelocks. You can only see their backs, but Lester and Io's fleeces are looking very nice indeed.

One skinny old lady sheep refused to come into the barn til this morning, but everyone else enjoyed dry accommodations overnight.

#fiber #localwool ##northernnewenglandfibershed

A tiny black lamb stands in a green meadow with oak trees in the background at dusk, gazing.

#blacksheep #wool #localwool #spring #springtime #sheep #localag #agriculture

#yarn #farm #farmyarn #knitting #local #fibershed #localwool #wool #crocheting #knit #crochet #undyed #mendocino #california #fullcirclewool #smallbusiness #girlsruntheworld

This Kansas girl is really excited to try out some Vermont maple syrup! First time ordering yarn from @junctionfibermill and I already have more on the way! 😍🥰🧶 What a delightful box!

#sugaronsnow #junctionfibermill #localwool #americanwool #fortheloveofwool

#fiberprep #localwool #handspinning #fleece #dorsetwool

Lambs have arrived. #localfibre #localwool

Planning a fibre farm road trip to Vancouver Island! Does anyone know of any farms that sell fibre? Wool, alpaca, mohair, chiengora, plant fibre, anything goes really.

#vancouver #fibreprep #handspinning #localwool #canadianwool

WIP Wednesday. I’m on the first sleeve. Pattern is The Classic Cardigan from Tin Can Knits. Yarn is non super-wash Cheviot hand dyed by the lovely Pauline of @melbournecitydye.bsky.social
#knitting #supportyourmates #womenownedbusiness #localwool

No matter how neatly I put down hay, there’s always one that has to stand in the middle of it and eat over top of their neighbor. Today it was little Sassafras.

#romneysheep #pastureraised #buildingsoil #sheepfarm #FDT #fucknazis #fuckfascism #protectyourneighbors #smallfarm #localwool #knitting