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Fiber: Our Journey of Establishing a Wool Mill

by Sandra Wilson Morris

Our interest in wool started about 25 years ago, when we bought our first sheep, four Romney ewes. Our flock grew quickly, as we added additional breeds, with our focus being largely on wool. I knew nothing about fiber arts, but my interest was peaked as I attended sheep and wool shows. My first purchase of fiber processing equipment was a table picker and drum carder. I then purchasedmyfirstwheel,andwashooked!

I started selling raw fleeces online, when we still had dial up internet and yahoo wool groups were a thing. I read “Turning Wool into a Cottage Industry” by Paula Simmons and that was the inspiration I needed to look further intoaddingmorevaluetoourwool.

It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. If we had purchased new equipment, that would have at least come with some training, modern controls, along with some other advantages. But Mikes interest in the historyandloveforoldmachines,wonout.He had to make some modifications, as most of the old cards were set up for production, and we were working with various types of wool, and different staple lengths. This would have been difficult if Mike had not had a background in machine building/engineering. A lot of wool went through that carder before we felt we had a grasp on what we were doing.

Mikesinterestgrewwhenheseenawool card demonstration, at Sauder Village.

Being a machinest, and having an appreciation of old things, he started studying the history of the machines, behind the wool mills that once existed in the United States. He threw the idea around, of us processing our own wool, but I didn’t take him seriously, until he found a Davis and Furber carding machine, and sold his Harley Davidson to buyit.BeforeIknewit,wewereownersof ourveryownwoolcard.

Just when we had things all figured out, we added a spinning frame to our mill. Again, no training, but at least it came with a manilla folder with some notes, from previous owners. It took Mike about a year to go through the machine, find and replace parts, and get the spinning frame, in good working order. It has definitely been the most challenging of all the machines to learn, but being able to take our wool from sheep to yarn,hasbeenveryrewarding.

We added a Davis and Furber picker, that was found on the East coast. With the picker and carder, we were able to turn ourrawwoolintoroving.