Wool
Our Wool
From flock to yarn:
We have kept a small flock of Shetland sheep (currently 22) since 2014, and alpacas (currently four) since 2015. I have always dreamt of learning to hand spin, and to make our own clothes out of our own homegrown fibre. As in the first year at Rails Farm the grass on our nine acres threatened to grow out of control, we acquired our first starter flock of woolly lawnmowers. We decided on Shetland sheep because they are renowned for their soft fleeces, yielding yarns that create lovely soft and warm garments. Also, being an ancient breed of sheep, they still come in different natural colours, ranging from white to brown to black and everything in between. On Shetland these colours were used as the basis for fair isle patterns, using yarn dyed with natural materials to give colour highlights. Our own sheep are mainly grey and cream (fawn), with the occasional white, medium brown, and dark brown one.
Like everything on the farm our wool, too, is grown according to organic principles. Quite a number of our sheep are friendly pets. They are not dipped in chemicals, nor are they routinely treated with sprays or injections – of course, if there is a problem then their welfare is paramount and they receive all the treatment and care they need. They eat mainly grass and hay made from a friend’s untreated flower meadow. Small amounts of organic concentrates to keep them tame.
The alpacas joined a few years later. We first started with two, and when one of them died of old age we took on another group of four. Like the sheep they come in different colours. Mabel is cream, Tula is white, Maximo is white and brown, and Olympia is brown. Alpaca yarn is famous for being especially soft and non-scratchy. Alpaca fibres are quite different from sheep – sheep fibres are crimpy and elastic, and the fleeces waterproofed with lanolin. In contrast, alpaca fibres are smooth and more like human hair, and the fleeces do not contain lanolin in great quantities.
Shearing and Wool Processing
All animals are all sheared once a year, either by professional shearers, or in the case of sheep occasionally by myself. We collect the individual fleeces in labelled bags, and only use the best parts of any fleeces to be processed into yarn. I soon realised that hand spinning all these fleeces was impossible, therefore we have since used the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall to professionally process our fleeces. The Natural Fibre Company needs a certain amount of weight for processing though, so we tend to batch all the greys, and all the cream coloured fleeces together. We currently have grey fibre on offer, 100% shetland, processed into so called tops, which is an endless snake of fluff ready to be spun. The cream and white fleeces we had processed into double knit yarn; they contain 85% Shetland and 15% alpaca yarn from our Mabel.
The cream yarn can easily be overdyed, for example with Ashford acid dyes (please see photos below). It knits up nicely to about 18 stitches/10 cm on 5 mm needles – we love our hand knitted garments! (please see photos below).
The bits that cannot be professionally spun because the fibres are too coarse/short/dirty I can’t usually bear to throw away. Some of the coarser, hairier fleece from the back end of the sheep I have hand spun thickly on occasions to produce rugs or slippers. Anything too dirty or matted to use is composted on the farm or used as a natural water storing layer at the bottom of plant pots. I am always trying to find ways to use up the lesser quality fleece parts.
Felted Sheepskins
We are now very happy to be producing felted sheepskins. This means that you can have a ‘sheepskin’ rug or throw while the sheep remains happy and healthy. To do this one takes the fleece, turns it on the backside and felt in carded wool instead of the skin of the animal. A layer of wool is carded first. Then with lots of water, dishwasher liquid and rubbing, the carded wool is linked with the fleece. This process is called wet felting. The end product is lovely and the sheep is still cheerily grazing on the meadow.
If you like the look of our felted sheepskins, you can order one using the information on the produce page.
Knitting Kits
We’ve also started to sell knitting kits. So far we have kits for a Seafoam pattern scarf, and a pair of socks. The scarf kit is beginner friendly and comes with three 50g skeins of Rails Farm DK yarn which can be either 100% Shetland or a Shetland/alpaca blend of 85/25 %. All you’ll need to knit the scarf once you have the kit is a good pair of needles and plenty of time!
News for this year
We can now offer double knit yarn in natural grey, as well as in natural cream yarn spun by the Natural Fibre Company in Cornwall.
We will also for the first time send alpaca fleeces to the East Anglian mill to create 100% double knit alpaca yarn, probably in cream and white.
You can find the pricing of our various woollen produce on the produce page. If you are interesting in buying, or would just like to know more about our wools you are more than welcome to get in touch directly using the details on our contact page to call or email.
