B&W Woolery
Hand spinning fibers is a centuries old craft. Providing warmth and comfort to people around the world. B&W Woolery follows in those footsteps and creates unique, organic yarns using the same techniques and tools used historically. All processing is done completely by hand.
Prior to the industrial revolution and the use of harmful chemicals in all consumer products, yarns were spun at home. Our yarns are spun in our homes, in front of the living room fire and bring this antiqued feeling of hearth and home to everything we do.
This craft has been passed down from one generation to another. I was taught this craft at a young age, from a long time spinner in Nova Scotia.
Choosing to create breed specific yarns comes with the challenge of re-educating an audience who expects 'wool' yarn from a craft store. Creating and purchasing breed yarns ensures breed preservation. With the industrial revolution, yarns are produced in large factories with corrosive chemicals. They favor white yarns to later dye. This ensured that herdsmen tend to keep white sheep. Those beautiful breeds with colored fleeces are being bred out of existence to suit this expanding market.
Each variety of fleece is not simply 'wool'. Similar to paint, one would not just purchase 'paint' to touch up their car, paint their finger nails, and also paint their home. Breed specific yarns carry this distinction too. These breeds have been selectively breed for thousands of years to produce fleeces with very specific attributes and purposes.
We work with local farmers and herdsmen to find the best fleece we can within each breed. Once the fleece is received, it is then skirted to remove all portions that are unsuitable for spinning. It's then washed in organic handmade laundry soap made for sensitive skin. washing is time consuming and has to soak and be gently massaged to remove the oils and dirt. This process is repeated up to 8x. The wool is then sun or air dried depending on the outside weather and finally hand carded, hand spun and dyed.
When searching in our small town for natural fibers to craft with, crafters had a hard time finding yarn that was crochet specific. Being that we're hand spinning it, we can cater to these different needs. crotchet yarn is S spun, while knit yarn is Z spun. The yarns can be used for anything you'd like them to, but using an appropriate yarn for your craft will result in an easier yarn to work with and a more pleasing result.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like something only you would think of!
