Guest Author - Pegg Thomas

One of the spinners at guild meeting shows off some gorgeous socks she made out of Romney wool. They feel wonderful and look like something you’ve been meaning to make for awhile now. But you head home from spinning guild without finding out where she got that wool from. Several weeks later, when you’ve finished up a project or two and are thinking about the next one, you remember that nice Romney wool. But where can you find some now?

The best resource for fibers is word of mouth. Ask the spinner where she got her fibers. Sometimes the response is, “I don’t remember”. (Haven’t we all had fiber stored around the house for so long that we’ve forgotten where we got it?!) Then you are back to square one.

If you are lucky enough to have a fiber shop within easy driving distance, you are truly blessed! But many of us do not. There needs to be a pretty good concentration of spinners in an area for a shop to be profitable, or else they are also have an Internet shop to keep them afloat. These shops not only carry fleeces, but also prepared fibers that may be dyed and/or blended. You may find things here you didn’t even know you were looking for!

Another good place to find a particular breed of wool is to go to the breed association web page. Most breed associations will have a list of breeders there and some even have listed what the breeders have for sale. Some sell only the sheep, other sell wool, roving and other wool products. I have found fleece for sale this way and my experiences have all been good. Breeders that take the time to register their sheep and keep up-to-date with web pages are usually pretty reliable.

When all else fails and there is something you *really* want but can’t find elsewhere, there is always Google. I’m convinced that one can find just about anything on earth through Google. My husband is convinced that I need to stop looking!