Wool Gathering

For all you knitters out there, I finally have some stories to tell.  This place with its thousands of sheep is like the cobbler who has no shoes!!  I would have expected yarn shops all over the place, but alas, they have been difficult to find and then they do not always carry the good wools from NZ.  I did hear about a woman who raises alpaca about an hour north of Dannevirke.  She cards and spins her own wool and has a little shop on her farm.

So, I took a field trip and went to visit her,  This is her tiny shed where she keeps and sells her wool,  Her name is Kim and she is with her dog, Holly, who is the official, friendly greeter.  Kim was very gracious and shared a lot with me about alpaca wool and introduced me to her alpaca.  Sorry I don't remember their names,but they are really quite friendly.

I bought some of the wool from that black fellow in front - actually she says he is feisty and fairly aggressive - hope that won't show up in any way when the wool is made up.  I did not know that alpaca are part of the camel family.  They are much cleaner and healthier than sheep.  Kim said the fibers of their wool is softer than that of sheep, so is less "itchy" - pronounced in NZ as "eechy".  I don't know if that is just the opinion of an alpaca farmer, but it is nice and soft.

The daughter-in-law of our innkeeper is a knitter and she put me on to the place to get good quality wool.  She orders it online, which I have never done.  I like to touch it and see the true color - at least so far.   The Wool Company where she orders it is about 2 hours from here.  They are wool brokers and process the wool and sell it from their "factory" and thru catalogues.   Their best wool is merino and it is most often mixed with possum wool.  As I have shared with some of you, the possum here are less ugly than the ones in the US and have very soft, wool  that is quite warm.  Hmmm, maybe Kim is right about the "eechy" part since mixing the merino wool with possum makes it much softer.   For those of you freaking out about the possum - which includes me - I have a picture and some info for you.

We originally learned about the possum while on a trip to Hawke Bay (more on that trip later - stay tuned) at a place called Possum World.  Can you imagine - a place that focuses entirely on possum?   I admit they aren't as ugly as the ones in the US, but really!!   Well, anyway, the fur is very soft. L ast weekend as we were traveling north, we just happened to go right by The Wool Company.   Honestly, we did not go out of our way and did not plan this trip to be there, but here we were!!!    I did purchase some of the merino/possum blend wool.  Have not started anything yet with my purchases, but looking forward to doing so.  The research and shopping have been great fun!!

Ahh, three bags full - well, not quite, only one!