A Local Source of Icelandic Sheep Fleece

I recently learned that a local friend has Icelandic sheep with fleeces processed into roving that's ready for spinning.  As far as I know, Icelandic sheep are pretty highly renowned for their fibre quality. The fleeces have long fibres that are great for spinning.

I'm always on the hunt for local suppliers because I strongly believe that we should support each other and help develop our local economy, even at a very small scale. On that note, I hope to continue to do business with Heritage Valley for their gorgeous alpaca, and the Wengers for their beautiful Romney wool. And, the local economy and doing business among friends is really positive and just plain fun.

Anyway, last week I visited Donna on Fox Mountain and met her sheep and their valiant guard dog.  I bought over a kilogram each of two shades of brown roving, which is cleaned and carded fleece that's been processed into a long strand that only needs drawing out as much as the spinner wishes. Donna and I, along with her daughter, have great plans to combine my handwoven wool cloth with her expert sewing into some useful and classic designs. This is a big part of the fun for me.

Here are the Icelandic sheep and their fearless protector:

And here are some samples of Donna's roving, nicely packaged into big balls of 200 g and 600 g.

Donna has more roving available, so feel free to contact her at dfdonnafroese "at" gmail "dot" com if you're interested. I highly recommend it! Just be sure to leave me more. :-)