Fleece prep for fibre crafts – Galiano

Fleece prep for fibre crafts

Monday June 16th 1-4pm @ the North Galiano Island Hall

Using locally grown fleeces from the Haywood Farm flock we will go though the process of skirting (aka sorting) a fleece into different grades of fibre then clean it in preparation for future crafting, whatever that may be.

These sheep are a cross between Finn / Dorset / Suffolk / Navajo Churro. Raised predominantly for meat this flock is typical of most sheep in the SGI’s, which are larger animals with coarser wool. Traditionally this type of wool would be converted into yarn for carpets and outerwear such as Harris Tweed.

Unfortunately due to the lack of local woollen mills it is cost prohibitive to ship these kinds of fleeces so are often treated as a waste product. However there are lots of things you can do with a single fleece of this quality and we will explore many of them. There will be additional fleeces for sale to take home.

On the weekend of July 12th and 13th we will have another fleece pop up sale and demos using wool from “hand spinners” flocks, as well as a day-long natural dye workshop. The sheep are bred primarily for fibre and typically have a softer, finer staple, better for spinning yarn for apparel or fine felting. There will be Icelandic, Finn, Gotland X, Shetland and Alpaca fleeces available.

The event is part of a series exploring slow textiles at the North Galiano Hall, funding thanks to Galiano Parks and Recreation.

For more details please email Kate at waitingfortheferry@gmail.com