Harmeny Woolen Mill

White alpaca ..

Lovely alpaca is in the house!

My own North Country Cheviot wool in the milling starting block. Cheviot wool is crimpy, so springy when handled and retains its loft well. What’s not to love!

My afternoon meditation.

Gorgeous, healthy lustrous wool purchased from Gillian Mullins by a Mill client and it’s here for processing.

Happy Happy Easter all! Be well & stay safe!

Productive evening...

Harmeny Woolen Mill will be closed to in person Mill visits as we all navigate through this crisis. We will still be able to receive wool and are processing Fibre for our customers but will practice safe distancing. Please call/text 902-897-7708 or email [email protected] or message online. ... Be well and stay safe all.

Ah the various colours of wool.

Beautiful alpaca core yarn in production. It’s great for weaving, knitting, crocheting or felting into trivets etc. Core yarn is made from Fibre being wrapped around a core which in this case was a butchers twine but we have cotton mop yarn or 2ply wool yarn core as other options. This is a great use of lesser quality Fibre.

Lovely Alpaca roving of many colours. Custom processing per alpaca plus a mix of all!

Playing with roving colour this stormy night.

Picking 101, the step between the drying racks and the carder. The Picker is a series of drums and spikes that pulls the Fibre apart aka opening the Fibre. In this stage the processor separates the clumps and removes any debris. The Fibre then, by centrifugal force goes into the Picker Room where it is later collected before going on to the carding stage. Now it is a multidirectional cloud.

The carding machine takes the picked Fibre and lines it up. The end product on this machine is roving, batts, or core yarn.

After the wash the wool is out on drying racks. We have a wood stove in our shop that helps dry quickly so it can go on to the next stage. Clun Forest Wool

The first stage of processing is tumbling (the big bingo drum) which separates the Fibre and many of the veg debris, tags and second cuts fall out. Second is washing and this wool is so brilliantly clean, free of debris plus very lofty and healthy! Ps this was the initial soak cycle. Great maintenance of the sheep and wool by the shepherd, plus fantastic skirting. ... This is Clun Forest wool, strong yet elastic and wonderful for new spinners.

Gorgeous, white Alpaca Merino batts destined for felt...

Our own North Country Cheviot wool before and after being washed. Lanolin and dirt and some of the vegetation has been removed. I try to feed grain and hay as carefully as possible to keep the fleeces clean all year. I skirt any manure tags well and remove any matted hay collar which happens to our sheep when feeding hay in a rack. This wool is destined for pillows. Dust mites do not like wool so will not live in your pillow. Wool is also temperature regulating so if you ar...e warm it will cool you down and if cold, warm you up and it wicks moisture away. Sustainable. Natural. Environmentally friendly. Wool.

This black and white combo comes out tan when carded.

Historically, a lot of clothing worn in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland was made with wool from the sheep that people kept. Whilst the treadle spinning wh...eel was invented in the late 16th or early 17th Century, they were not common in the Highlands and Islands until the late 18th Century. The use of drop spindles was much more common before this, of which two different types were evident, ones with a whorl and ones without. A whorl is a disc, usually of wood, stone, horn or metal and as such adds weight to the spindle, acting a little like a flywheel. It adds momentum and keeps the spindle going when turned. The other kind of drop-spindle commonly used was a stick of wood without a whorl at the bottom. The bottom was much thicker than the top, and this extra weight kept the spindle turning. This kind of spindle is also known as a Scottish Spindle, Farsadh, or Fairsaid. Spinning with a drop-spindle is slower than when using a wheel, but the spinner can move about and do other work at the same time - something that is impossible with a spinning wheel. There are a variety of other drop-spindles such as Turkish drop spindles that have two pieces of wood at right angles to each other. These can be wound round and then slid off and removed, leaving the ball of wool, eliminating the need to to wind the wool off the drop spinner. See more

Doing some year planning of events! I can’t make this one but hope you all can as it’s amazing!

The picker, or as my father called it when looking at all the nails working, the torture chamber for wool!

Wool bedding is unbelievably cozy and breathable, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Check out Woolies of Upperbrook Farm for more info or message.

A bit of New Year work to be done in the Mill...