The Farmers Met a Knitter

When we moved to the farm ten years ago we only had cattle and had little interest, and no experience, in sheep.

There was a shearing shed here so we bought some sheep so that it wouldn’t fall down; reasoning that, if it’s used it will be looked after.

Over the years we have expanded our flock and have gained a lot of respect for this humble, intelligent animal that produces such a beautiful natural fibre.

We have also gained an appreciation of the tradition of wool growing in our area (our farm is located in one of the three traditional fine wool merino growing districts in Australia) and the part that sheep have played in not only shaping the rural, but our national history/story.

As we got more sheep and produced more wool we were increasingly feeling dejected that we can’t produce a tangible product from all this wool we grow; the majority of Australian wool is sold as a commodity and about 80% ends up in China (you can read a previous rant about this here). We couldn’t find anywhere to turn our wool into something that didn’t involve container loads travelling over the ocean.

Last year we met the lovely Imogen, a knitter, indie dyer and knitwear designer from the blue mountains. Imogen had developed an interest in where the fibre she was knitting and dying came from, how it was grown and where it was produced. So we started chatting and it turns out that since we last looked into it a wool mill capable of producing yarn from our wool had opened up in Orange. So we chatted some more, Imogen visited the farm, and we went on a road trip to the mill.

And so our little collaboration was born – this year we will sending off a bale to produce our first batch of ethically grown, single flock, 100% Australian made (grown near Mudgee, scoured in Victoria, milled in Orange and hand dyed in the Blue Mountains) fine wool Merino yarn!

But first, shearing…