Sheepish Handspun

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Sheepish Handspun Beautiful hand spun yarns from fleece purchased iocally. I make beautiful handspun yarns for knitters who want "the real thing".

i prepare raw fleece, washing and carding it, and often blending it with dyed fleece to produce lovely colors. I use a drum carder to blend different fibers, like silk, soy silk, bamboo or alpaca fiber with wool. My yarns reflect the joy and respect I have for sheep and the people who care for them. I try to use fleece from sheep I have met, and who live in New England. The adventure of making yarn in the time-honored way includes visiting farms and buying great fleece for your knitted handwork

Sold!.. and will be going to a return customer in Texas.
10/17/2026

Sold!.. and will be going to a return customer in Texas.

What a good day! Left: That’s the newly skeined Romney / Cormo wool from Consolati Farms (Sheep #86); a pleasant surpr...
10/14/2026

What a good day!
Left: That’s the newly skeined Romney / Cormo wool from Consolati Farms (Sheep #86); a pleasant surprise to find both ends of the skein met, and tied easily, without having to lose yardage.
Right: The new yarn is asking to be held, squeezed, squished - all because: 1. The wool is the best, it’s sturdy and very, very soft. And 2. I used long-draw drafting to produce an airy, bouncy yarn.
Next step is a hot water bath to set the twist, then I’ll hang it to dry.
Happy Wednesday!

I decided to go back to the gray Romney/Cormo fleece from Consolati Farms for the next Sheepish Handspun yarn. The fleec...
10/12/2026

I decided to go back to the gray Romney/Cormo fleece from Consolati Farms for the next Sheepish Handspun yarn. The fleece is smaller now; the gray is darker, and the wool a bit finer.
When I start spinning a new bobbin, I experiment, and allow the wool to “tell me” what it wants to be: thick, juicy worsted? Midsize DK? Or thin, sport weight. Thin, sport weight won.
Without a lot of thinking, I picked up a handful of washed locks, and carded them on a single hand-carder. ( OK, call the spinning police, because this carding technique is uncommon, not acknowledged or blessed. Despite all that, it is amazing not just for carding but also for removing vegetative matter and lumps and bumps).
Then, my hands took over - no brain involved here - and I started to use an old drafting technique some spinners hate: it’s called “long-draw”. Instead of moving fiber forward toward the wheel, when I spin using long-draw technique, I guide the carded wool in my hand off to my right for a distance of a foot or more. This spin creates a thin, airy single. I love the feel of long-draw; I collect a good deal of spin before I draw, and as I release the fiber in my hand, the collected spin follows, and ‘eats” the fiber quickly. I pedal to create an even rhythm for extending my handful of fiber to the right. Spinning, done right, is a dance.
The technique of long-draw results in a yarn that is airy because the fibers are not all parallel and neat. No! The fibers are not that organized, and will trap air, hold heat, and create something cozy and warm.
That is my Majacraft professional wheel, made in New Zealand.

Skeins #3 and #4 - white Galway wool - went into the dyepot today. The color is “Burgundy”, and the water is clear at...
10/07/2026

Skeins #3 and #4 - white Galway wool - went into the dyepot today. The color is “Burgundy”, and the water is clear at the close of the dye process. You can see that in the plastic spoon: not a even a hint of color in the water! That means all the dye was absorbed, and no dye will go down the sink drain.
I calculate the amount of dye I use based on the “weight of goods” - dry weight of both skeins together - because I dyed them together. I use principles of both physics and math in spinning, plying and dyeing. Both are part of the beauty of this world - including the consistent twist count and twist angle in the yarn

The best feeling ever is when the new yarn is plyed, then skeined.. The easier experience is the skeining: winding the p...
10/05/2026

The best feeling ever is when the new yarn is plyed, then skeined.. The easier experience is the skeining: winding the plyed yarn on my niddy-noddy, then tying with plastic strips in preparation for dyeing.
The process isn’t complete until I loosen the k**b on the niddy-noddy, loosening the tension and allowing the tied skein to fall gracefully into my lap in celebration!

Now on Etsy: “Pumpkin Worsted Weight Handspun Yarn”; 152 yards of hand dyed Galway wool. At:www.etsy.com/shop/sheepishha...
09/29/2026

Now on Etsy: “Pumpkin Worsted Weight Handspun Yarn”; 152 yards of hand dyed Galway wool.
At:www.etsy.com/shop/sheepishhandspunyarn

2 new skeins of “Pumpkin” Galway yarn are dyed, rinsed and drying; working on the 1st bobbin of a 3rd skein. When I see ...
09/28/2026

2 new skeins of “Pumpkin” Galway yarn are dyed, rinsed and drying; working on the 1st bobbin of a 3rd skein.
When I see spun wool that is wider or narrower than what I want - like on this bobbin - I go back and re-draft. I don’t listen for the “Spinning Police”.

Left: 2 skeins on a hot water bath before dyeing. It is worth all the work, the calculations, and the “fixing” to produc...
09/28/2026

Left: 2 skeins on a hot water bath before dyeing. It is worth all the work, the calculations, and the “fixing” to produce 2 yarns with even twist. Each skein is anchored on an empty bobbin. That makes it easier to remove the skein from the water without a lot of tangling and mess.
Right: Dyeing is complete! what I especially notice is that there is no
Dye color in the remaining water; the dye has been completely taken up. I calculated the amount of dye based on “weight of goods” - the combined weights of both dry skeins. It doesn’t show in this photo, but the 2 bobbins are still anchoring the new “Pumpkin” yarn. It needs to cool, then it gets a rinse, and will hang to dry overnight.
This is happiness!

2nd skein finished. I will dye them together.
09/27/2026

2nd skein finished. I will dye them together.

Address

25 Church Street
Hudson, MA
01749

Telephone

(508) 842-9012

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