Wool #247646

Wool We process your fleece and add value to it. If this is what you want, you've come to the right place! We sort, scour and card your fleece before spinning it into whatever finished form you specify. It can be pure or blended with mohair, alpaca, silk or vegetable fibres and spun into either wool or worsted yarn which can be returned to you in balls, hanks or on cones. Some customers have asked us to develop specialist yarns. These include Blacker Yarns whose range includes various fibre combinations which include the addition of linen, alpaca, mohair and silk. Wool is a wonderful, sustainable product, and together with the sheep it comes from, has helped clothe and feed the world for centuries. In one way or the other, sheep have contributed to the UK economy since Roman times. The fleece varies in length from 2.4 to 30 centimetres (1 to 12 inches) and in thickness from 11 microns to over 50. In most cases products made from wool of up to 30 microns are comfortable next to the skin, but anything thicker may feel prickly; so will products containing a high proportion of coarse hair (kemp).Other attributes of wool relate to lustre, crimp and colour. A wool product can absorb up to 30% of its natural weight before it becomes saturated. Wool is also a natural fire retardant. To find out more about different kinds of wool and the sheep it comes from, please go to our Meet the Animals section. Raw fleece is full of grease, dirt and sweat, less if the sheep have been grazing in the rain! When we wash this out it results in some weight loss. If you are concerned about what you might lose, please speak to us. We are not advocates of call centres or telephone button pressing, so you should quickly find a person to talk to. But remember, you only pay for what you get back! If you cannot get you fleece to us we can collect it. Check out our carriage procedures. Also look at our advice and information page which includes a number of downloadable files that should answer many of your questions. Our mill is fully licensed for organic production by the Soil Association who scrutinise it every year. We recycle most of the waste we produce and keep the remainder to a minimum. This means we get the highest possible yield from your fibre, while low waste disposal costs help keep prices down.

Our Falkland Islands wool is an excellent alternative to Australian Merino on which we are less keen for a variety of reasons. Falklands wools come from sheep selectively bred for fine fleeces. The original breed was Corriedale, but increasingly Merino is being used. The Corriedale, developed largely in Australia and New Zealand, is the oldest cross breed of them all coming originally from breeding Lincoln or Leicester rams with Merino ewes. Adding Merino from Australia or South Africa produces a lovely, white, fine and crimpy yarn soft enough to wear next to the skin. For more information go to the Australian Corriedale Association (link is external), Merino New Zealand (link is external), the Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders (link is external) or the Dohne Merino Breed Society of South Africa (link is external)

Most people recognise the distinctive dark brown and white fleece produced by Jacobs, an ancient breed of horned sheep. The two colours can be sorted to create up to five different shades with the mixed dark and pale producing an interesting greybrown and we regularly have Jacob yarns (link is external) at Blacker Yarns. It's odd, but true that brown and white together appear grey. The yarn looks browner when worsted spun because of the way it reflects the light. This is a deservedly popular wool for outer garments and when blended with mohair it makes a soft yarn ideal for scarves. For more information contact the Jacob Sheep Society