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ResourceA Relaxing Vid About Small-Scale Fiber Milling
Anyone need some soothing fibery goodness? 🧶
Here's 45 minutes of shepherd, spinner, and knitter Kim Biegler at Ewethful Fiber Farm and Mill showing what's involved in taking fleece through the milling process to roving. Lots of fun equipment in the barn and the mill -- a tumbler (sifts out vegetable matter and dirt), a washer, drying racks, a picker (opens up and blends the fibers, check out the ingenious shower stall "catcher" attached to the picker), a carder (turns the fluff into roving). All kinds of fiber in this episode: Shetland and East Friesian-Corriedale Cross and Romney and Romeldale and Blue Faced Leicester Sheep, Pygora Goat, Angora Goat, Alpaca, and more. (Bonus: farm dog at 24:25, knit Shetland-Pygora cardigan at 35:00).
A lot of small farms and fiber mills will send you pics and the name of the contributing sheep or goat or alpaca when you buy their roving. If you're visiting, sometimes you can meet them. Extra cuteness. 🥲💕🐑🐐🦙
Now imagine doing all that without the machinery! So much respect for the generations who invented these technologies, going all the way back to "these sheep/goats have all this fluff and we could do stuff with it"
Thank you for posting this gem.
IKR? There are a few period artists I follow who do the whole pre-industrial fiber processing thing and I have so much respect. Like, that was your life and your trade back then.
Gurl WHAT 🥺🥺🥹🥹
Next time there's a gifting occasion, I'm definitely going to find a combination of a Friend and a farm. That's so cool😍🥰
Yesss! There's so much more dopamine when that little photo comes tucked in the bag, or you can actually stand there at the farm talking to them like a huge fuzzy puppy. 🥹❤️🧶