Beaker Button Warrenfield Sock Yarn - Part 1

Some of you will know that I've always wanted my own sheep, which I can produce a yarn from to sell in the shop. Unfortunately I'm mildly allergic to lanolin, which makes owning sheep tricky as you can imagine. However, I had to great fortune to get to know Elizabeth of Warrenfield Farm, which is just down the road from Beaker Button, in the Clatfords. Elizabeth has a delightful flock of Hampshire Down sheep and I've been using her fleece for years to teach spinning with. It's soft, springy and wonderful to work with. This year we've gone into partnership to produce Beaker Button Warrenfield Sock yarn. It's going to be a soft and springy sock yarn in 100g skeins spun at the Natural Fibre Co. in Launceston. Cornwall. I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the factory on Monday when we delivered the fleece so I thought I'd share some of the photos with you.

For those of you who are wondering part 2 is going to be all about dyeing the skeins when they're delivered at the end of October.

Elizabeth Skirting the Fleece

Fleeces being rolled to bag up
Two sacks full of fleece

Elizabeth's Hampshire Down sheep 
Fleece weighed in at 30kg

fleece is sorted then separated

washed


tumble dried

carded

comes out like clouds

clouds turned into fine rovings

and spun into singles

then plied into my sock yarn 

then wound into skeins or balls (ours will be skeins)

then hung to dry

then knitted!

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