Video

Believe it or not the most misunderstood breed is the Dorper mainly because it is a meat sheep that produces some wool.  But this breed carries wool genetics primarily the horn Dorset so when you cross this breed with a wool breed, you generally get a potluck of Wool types. I don’t recommend crossing again. You might be compromising the quality of the wool at that point. But if your gallery says you have to use Wool from our state and from this territory, then you have to hope that the farmer giving you the wool can at least tell you what it is, and in our case, it was a Dorper cross.  but before you throw it out because it’s contaminated with hair, take a better look at that Fiber and ask yourself what unique qualities it does have. It’s never gonna be next-to-skin wearable, but it will definitely be a product of some kind other than just trash or compost. 

Texas Fiber Gathering, EP. 1: crap in , crap out? But is it really crap? What I see as gold, others see as straw, but isn’t it my job as your mill to turn straw into gold? And I will own it. If I see that it’s not possible to take it to yarn or I might need to add something to make it sturdier or sexier, then I’m going to tell you so but I’ve dealt with some pretty strange fibers in the last 15 years of my life as a Spinner. And part of the challenge I feel I need to take on is to find ways to make everything that we produce as usable as possible. Not everything has to be compost.#artisanmill #shepherdsmill #fibershed #followthesheepwalk #texasfibergathering #belfastminimills #heritagewool #sheepwool