This post started out as "Where to buy fleece/fiber/wool for spinning," and morphed along the way to include " where to meet other spinners", "people who teach spinning, weaving or other related crafts", " interesting websites" and "other trivia out of my spinning obsessed brain". Read on....
So, where to buy fleece?
Starting locally, from the ladies of MidWest Spinners, of course!
Sandra King has her own sheep and website www.meetthewool.com, and a shop in Ardrahan, Irish Fibre Crafters, where you can buy all sorts of fibre related items and even take classes in spinning, weaving, dyeing and felting, etc https://www.irishfibrecrafters.com/about
Starting locally, from the ladies of MidWest Spinners, of course!
Sandra King has her own sheep and website www.meetthewool.com, and a shop in Ardrahan, Irish Fibre Crafters, where you can buy all sorts of fibre related items and even take classes in spinning, weaving, dyeing and felting, etc https://www.irishfibrecrafters.com/about
Valerie has alpacas and her own page on Facebook, Loop Head Alpacas. She hosts visits to the alpacas and she spins alpaca fleece.
https://www.facebook.com/Loop-Head-Alpacas-293881577868202/
https://www.facebook.com/Loop-Head-Alpacas-293881577868202/
Additionally, the spinners regularly meet farmers selling fleeces at shearing time, so just ask us if you are looking for fleece.
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| Two Dutch wheels, on left the Willy Spinnewiel from 1970's and on right the Woolmakers Bliss wheel from 2010's or so. |
In October 2018, this map was compiled by Evinok to show the locations of indie dyers in Ireland and Northern Ireland, available on her blog : on this blog, by Evinok http://evinok.com/?p=
or via Facebook
Grace at Babbles Yarn, Eve Chambers Textiles in West Cork and Sophie at Sionnach Yarns are all based in Munster, so look out for them:
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/EveChambersTextiles
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/BabblesYarns
https://sionnachyarns.bigcartel.com/
Sandra in Virginia, Cavan runs Crafts of Ireland and teaches several fibre crafts. https://www.facebook.com/craftsofireland/
Trish Kerr teaches spinning near Dublin, often at Hushabye Alpaca farm, see Trish's page for upcoming details: https://www.facebook.com/IrishAlpacaYarns/
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/EveChambersTextiles
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/BabblesYarns
https://sionnachyarns.bigcartel.com/
Teachers and classes around Ireland:
Caoimhe in Tramore, Co Waterford, runs Golden Stitch Designs and teaches needle felting and weaving on small looms. https://www.facebook.com/GoldenStitchDesigns/
Caoimhe in Tramore, Co Waterford, runs Golden Stitch Designs and teaches needle felting and weaving on small looms. https://www.facebook.com/GoldenStitchDesigns/
Then in Kerry outside Kenmare there is Mia who teaches spinning and sock knitting on circular sock knitting machines. Mia runs The Naked Sheep, https://www.thenakedsheep.ie/
Nany (Endee) in Leitrim teaches spinning and tablet weaving, among other things, her FB page is https://www.facebook.com/endee65/Sandra in Virginia, Cavan runs Crafts of Ireland and teaches several fibre crafts. https://www.facebook.com/craftsofireland/
Trish Kerr teaches spinning near Dublin, often at Hushabye Alpaca farm, see Trish's page for upcoming details: https://www.facebook.com/IrishAlpacaYarns/
For Reenactment and Viking Era Crafts: visit the FB page of Léine Medieval Crafters, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1415884025355290/
We are based in the Waterford area, sort of, and are willing to travel. We can teach and demonstrate spinning on spindles, dyeing with plants, weaving on a warp-weighted loom, tablet-weaving, sprang weaving, nålbindning , finger-loop braiding and medieval embroidery.
Right so, back to the fleece sellers:
Some of the few remaining mills in Ireland will sell you carded dyed sheep’s fleece from the back of their spinning rooms, I got a bag of carded wool from Kerry Woollen Mills, Beaufort, Co Kerry, about 5 years ago. I drove there and filled a bag myself and paid by weight. Of course, you do not have to travel there, you can just call them and ask them to make up a bag for you and post it on to you, you pay for the postage and the fibre. Check out their website for photos and contact details and current prices: https://www.
Their products are here: https://www.Some of the few remaining mills in Ireland will sell you carded dyed sheep’s fleece from the back of their spinning rooms, I got a bag of carded wool from Kerry Woollen Mills, Beaufort, Co Kerry, about 5 years ago. I drove there and filled a bag myself and paid by weight. Of course, you do not have to travel there, you can just call them and ask them to make up a bag for you and post it on to you, you pay for the postage and the fibre. Check out their website for photos and contact details and current prices: https://www.
At Kerry Woollen Mills, the carded wool is cheapest, 10 euro per lb, (454grm), not incl postage (as of Feb 2020). They sometimes have more expensive fleece which might be worth the extra price, for softness. You have to pay postage too, obviously, so keep an eye on postal rates when you are choosing how much to order.
Cushendale Mills in Graiguenamanagh www.cushendale.ie and www.facebook.com/
Studio Donegal in Kilcarra, Co. Donegal will also sell fleece to spin, they say their fleece is mostly Irish, some will have a little new Zealand blend(15%) in it. They have undyed white, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink & Red. The cost quoted was 45 euro per kilo plus 12.50 euro postage. Contact: sandra@studiodonegal.
Jennifer Lienhard of AppleOak Fiberworks is based in Tuamgraney, Scarriff Co Clare, and she sells natural dyestuffs like madder etc., wool for felting and silk for spinning:
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/AppleoakFibreWorks?section_id=22404569
https://www.etsy.com/ie/shop/AppleoakFibreWorks?section_id=22404569
Mary Cooper in Sligo runs Markree Wool Craft, teaches spinning and sells fiber for spinning, including Wensleydale fleece https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MarkreeWoolCraft?ref=ss_profile
Dublin yarn shop The Constant Knitter sometimes sells fibre and spindles, for exact details contact Rosemary here:
In Bennettsbridge, Kilkenny, Suzanna Crampton runs a sheep farm with Zwartbles sheep, (black fleece ) and Clun Forest sheep (white fleece) http://zwartblesireland.com/ .
Suzanna sometimes has some fleece to sell to handspinners, May is the month to enquire, before the shearing starts.
In Northern Ireland, there is The Wool Initiative, who sell the fleece of several breeds of sheep, rare breeds included. I have bought from them several times and it has worked very well. www.woolinitiative.com.
The Ulster Guild put up a blogpost in 2016, detailing places to buy fleece and yarn from, in either Northern Ireland or Ireland:read this: https://ulsterguild.
and their blog: https://ulsterguild.
If you want to get a sheep’s fleece and process it yourself, you can always ask around, you might find a farmer who has a Jacobs sheep, or check out the local Open Farms , I mean the kinds of places where kids and families can visit and pet the animals etc, as they might have a few sheep or an alpaca or llama. They will have to shear the sheep/alpaca/llama anyway and might give you a fleece for a small payment. You will then need to pick off the worst bits, and wash it carefully, and card it, or just spin it and then wash it. Both are acceptable.
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| A gathering of spindles, from top: homemade with CD, homemade with disc of plywood, beginners spindle using toy wooden wheel, spindle with square whorl and spindle from unknown maker. |
The Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers is not just for folks in Dublin, there are branches around the country. They include the Mid-West Spinners, who meet monthly, approximately, in Glór, Ennis and the Connacht Spinners, who meet in Castlebar Museum of Country Living. Then there are the 1798 Spinners, meeting in Ferrycarrig Wexford on the Heritage park and in Springmount Garden Centre
The Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers has monthly spinning meet-ups on one Sunday afternoon of each month, in The Constant Knitter yarn shop on Francis St Dublin, as well as an annual Open Day, a stand at the RDS for Knitting and Stitching Show, involvement in special occasions around Dublin, etc. The Guild now has an active Facebook page https://www.facebook.
and a group on Ravelry http://www.ravelry.
See here for current list of Guild branches and meetings around the country: http://weavespindye.
The website has an Events tab that gives you details of when the next meeting is on, and other upcoming events. Check here for meeting dates and times and other events:
https://weavespindye.ie/
There is a page on the Guild website under Links for Suppliers, scroll down for the Suppliers.
http://weavespindye.ie/links/
https://weavespindye.ie/
There is a page on the Guild website under Links for Suppliers, scroll down for the Suppliers.
http://weavespindye.ie/links/
The Guild has a rental scheme, for members who would like to rent a spinning wheel, or small loom, or drumcarder. Contact the Guild at hello@weavespindye.ie to enquire.
If you are in or near Cork, there is the Handweaver's Guild of Cork, who meet monthly. Spinning, weaving and other fibre crafts are welcomed and celebrated in this Guild. Lovely group of women, I have been going for a few years now. https://handweaversguildcork.ie/
Interesting websites:
Johnny Shiels , in Carndonagh Co Donegal, makes spinning wheels and has his own website and FB page, very interesting:https://www.facebook.com/
and http://www.spinningwheels.
Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille has a week long tapestry-weaving, spinning and plant-dyeing course in the first week of July every year, for very reasonable cost for a week. http://www.oideasgael.
Website of interest to those who knit, crochet, spin, weave, etc: www.ravelry.com, join it for free and then click on Groups tab at top and
look at the Irish Spinners group first, to see what Irish spinners are up to: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/
Irish Suppliers list here: http://www.ravelry.com/
and if you want to read the For Sale ads or put up a post looking for people selling fleece or spinning equipment in Ireland, then this thread is the one to use:
http://www.ravelry.com/
You could also have a look at UK Spinners: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/
UK Spinners destashing their own stuff: http://www.ravelry.com/
UK Spinners Suppliers, hand dyed fleece, thread for shop updates, new dye jobs, etc....http://www.ravelry.com/
You could have a look at the ravelry group UK Fleeeece People:http://www.ravelry.com/groups/
here they have a thread for Fleece for sale: http://www.ravelry.com/
(nothing current on that one at the moment, it is busier in May/June, depending on when people shear)
and handdyed tops for sale, etc http://www.ravelry.com/
To get stuff from UK, I often use my AddressPal card, from An Post, it is like Parcel Motel, the stuff I order online from UK sellers gets sent to a central place in Herts and from there An Post gets it back to Ireland and I collect my parcel from my local nominated-by-me post office, and pay 3.99 per parcel for the privilege. It helps in the event that sellers will only ship to UK addresses. I think it also cuts down on postage costs. I get a lot of stuff from UK.
A fleece from your own local friendly farmer might be free, or cost a fiver / a tenner, or a bottle of wine. Then you have to skirt it, wash it and dry it, pick it, card it, maybe. It is up to you. You could spin it unwashed, i.e.’ in the grease’, but I don't do that, as I like to demo in public and I want to have washed wool if people want to touch the wool or try to spin on a spindle. It is perfectly possible to spin in the grease. For dyeing, you do need to have washed wool, as the oil left in unwashed wool will not allow the dye to take evenly.
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| beginner's drop spindle from Hilltop Cloud, UK |
For people based in Northern Ireland, there is the Ulster Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers - link here to their Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/
UK SUPPLIERS
In UK, (if you can bear the postage costs, I use Address Pal service from An Post to minimise costs, others might use Parcel Motel) there is Wingham Wool UK, selling wool for spinning and equipment for spinning, weaving and felting; sometimes they have demo Spinning wheels at reduced rates. I find Wingham excellent and the prices very good for a wide range of fibre. I find their undyed sheeps wool is very reasonable.
Corriedale is generally a good fibre for beginner spinners, as is BFL (Blue Faced Leicester), Romney and Cheviot. Winghams also sell exotic fibres such as banana fibre, ramie, silk, etc and bags of Mixed Wool Laps/Tops. Have a good look around the website, under Fibre.
World of Wool also sell wool for spinning, they have a wide selection of natural colours and dyed colours and range of sheep breeds, etc.
here is Corriedale on their site, Corriedale is good for beginners to spin : https://www.worldofwool.co.uk/
World of Wool also sell 500g bag of mix of various fibers, can be very interesting mix,http://www.worldofwool.co.
If you just want to look at spinning wheels, and more accessories for spinning, Ashford wheels New Zealand have a great website, http://www.ashford.
Ashford have copies of old manuals for older versions of their spinning wheels available online, if you need to check something.
spinning wheel page:
There are UK distributors and agents for spinning wheels, looms and spare parts from various manufacturers, eg, Ashford, Louet, Schacht.
Sellers of fibre and spinning and weaving equipment include
Hilltop Cloud,
Sellers of fibre and spinning and weaving equipment include
Hilltop Cloud,
Weftblown studios;
Heidi Feathers,
Heidi Feathers,
The Threshing Barn;
Frank Herring and Sons,
George Weil,
Janet Renouf Miller at Create with Fibre, and there are definitely more.
In the UK, Chris has put together a long list of websites for UK and EU resources to do with spinning and weaving, here it is: http://www.spindizzy.net/spinresources/
There is also The Loom Exchange,where weaving and spinning equipment and textile books are bought and sold https://www.theloomexchange.co.uk/,
Learning to spin at home on your own:
On youtube, you can find videos from Ashford on how to use their equipment, also videos by Abby Franquemont for learning spinning on a drop spindle.
On youtube, you can find videos from Ashford on how to use their equipment, also videos by Abby Franquemont for learning spinning on a drop spindle.
Abby Franquemont wrote a book called Respect the Spindle, a very respected book among spinners.
A few years ago, I got a book called How to Spin Just About Anything. Author: Janet Renouf-Miller. Look for it on her website https://www.
But there is no need to buy all these books to start with, there is lots free on the internet, between Ravelry, videos on youtube, blogs, and even possibly through your local library website.
Here in Limerick the libraries changed to a new system and they now have Zinio on their website. Zinio seems to be a free magazine reader service. I can log on to the library page using my library membership number, then onto Zinio and access a magazine from US called Spin Off, (It has lots of interesting articles about spinning and drop spindles). With Zinio, I can read these and other magazines free online.
Here in Limerick the libraries changed to a new system and they now have Zinio on their website. Zinio seems to be a free magazine reader service. I can log on to the library page using my library membership number, then onto Zinio and access a magazine from US called Spin Off, (It has lots of interesting articles about spinning and drop spindles). With Zinio, I can read these and other magazines free online.
Spin Off magazine used to be published by a company called Interweave, however now it is published by a company called Long Thread Media. https://longthreadmedia.com/
There is a Facebook page with regular articles about spinning called Spinning Daily, free to subscribe to and useful to read.
Edited on 23rd May 2020, to say that NBC has posted online to say that they are closing down Bluprint in the next few months. I want you to be aware of this before you go spending money on Bluprint at this point. You might not be able to download any content you pay for and you might not have access to any of the stuff you buy, after it closes down.
Easy dyeing at home:
You can dye fiber and yarn easily and safely at home with Kool Aid, which can be got from the sweet shops that sell American sweets. Kool Aid is a powder which can be added to water to make a drink like cordial. Instead of drinking it, you can dye fibre and yarn with it. It contains both the colour and Citric Acid which works as a mordant.
Here is the link to the Ravelry group where they discuss dyeing with Kool Aid and other food colourings.
If you would like a homemade basket for your wool, there is a lady who does Basket weaving workshops called Hanna van Aelst and she is based near Kiloscully outside Newport, here is the link to her webpage to the workshops page: http://hannavanaelst.
If you came to this blog after meeting me at a spindle spinning class: remember: To Spindle spin, you got to Pinch the leader, Twist spindle clockwise , Grab the spindle, Park it between your knees and Draft the unspun fibre, then let the twist run up to your hand, repeat. And of course Dare to Draft!
One way to spin on a wheel: treadle slowly but steadily, pinch with front hand and allow twist to build up, while you draw back the fibers with your back hand, then in one movement, pinch with the back hand at the back of the drawn out fibers and release the front pinch, so the twist travels up the drafted fibers to the back pinch, new yarn is created and hopefully feeds onto wheel as your back hand moves towards the orifice; then almost immediately you pinch again with the front hand and draw back with the back and it starts all over again.
Disclaimer: I am not purporting to know all there is to know about spinning and weaving in Ireland; if anybody would like to get in touch and tell me about other weaving and spinning suppliers etc, or other dyers, teachers, classes, groups, by all means do!
