Processing Our Sheep & Alpaca Wool into Yarn 

The RU-vid algorithm showed me a video on growing flax from seed and processing flax all the way to making a fabric on a loom and all by hand and now here I am… I’ve literally never searched for this. 😂 I’m a woodworker and woodturner but now I want to know more. I live in the mountains of north Georgia and have want sheep for the natural fiber. I’m glad I found this channel. I’ll be showing this to my wife for sure.

I watched this video for the first time a while back. After crocheting for over 15 years, I got the urge to make my own yarn. My local zoo has almost like a petting zoo at the front. It's very small. But they said they have 24 llamas and alpaca. (They sort of lumped them together, so idk how many of each). But I asked them what they do with the wool/fleeces when they sheer them. He said they throw them away. My heart hit the floor. He said "We've never met anyone who wants them." I said "I want them!!!" Their sheerer comes next week, and hopefully I can start this process I've spent over a year researching! If I can do it, and make unable yarn, I want to make some things for the zoo to sell in their gift shop. I think having things made from the animals they have there would be really neat, and give the vistors a deeper connection to the zoo, and the animals they just saw!

"If there's bugs, burn it" best advice ever

My mother was a master weaver and would do some spinning, too. When I was a teenager I helped her karding with the karding paddles, but never too long - it was hard, hard work. My mother was a tiny but physically strong woman, because weaving at a loom (especially preparing the loom) is physically challenging.

That little boy watching with a smile on his face the whole time, so cute!! So cool that y’all are passing on this info, this was really fun to watch 😊

I love that you are a rescue & the animals actually "pay" for themselves with their wool! Great video, its a lot of work for sure! My grandmother had carding paddles, I think my sister ended up with them. I've seen a lot of wonderful things made with wool felting. From small realistic-looking felted animals/birds to felted cat caves. My cats love their cat cave! It looks like a giant hollow egg with an entrance & it holds up well to cat Scratching! There are vids on utube on making them & other felting vids. They're very interesting to watch also. 😁

I haven't spun for a few years, but I can say without bragging that I almost managed to spin actual thread, and not just yarn. I consistently made lace-weight or finer. It was a glorious hobby, and I really wish I could get a spinning wheel of my own so I could start it up again!

Holy sheep! Thank you so much for sharing your process. I live in Australia and haven't been able to find anyone to teach me. My parents have just shorn their alpacas for the second time and we have a lot of bags of wool to make our way through. As a crocheter, I feel like you've just given me a valuable gift of knowledge and many more people will benefit from the blankets that I make. Many thanks!

At 13:00 you said to keep the lanolin in the wool the last water bath should be cool water. So glad you said that! Lanolin protects the wool from absorbing dirt. It does the same thing when you've kniited a sweater with the lanolin still in the wool. When your sweater is used daily as is today with fishermen etc. it's the lanolin that keeps it from dirt and oil stains. When its washed it's like new! 😊

Thanks for this! I’ve had sheep for 3 years and never taken the time to process the wool. This was the first video i watched to finally figure it out. :)

This video randomly popped up and I know nothing about this and I will probably never own any animals but i watched it from the beginning to the end. I really enjoyed it! You and your daughter are amazing teachers.

I have been binge watching The 10 Acre Woods for about 2 months now. I watch the wool processing videos repeatedly because I have self taught myself, mostly, how to process wool and spin it. I have learned a couple of things that I have not seen mentioned in your videos though so thought I would share. The main item is the difference between sheep wool and alpaca. Sheep wool holds together better because each strand has little barbs on it that hold it together where alpaca wool does not have these barbs. That is also why alpaca is softer usually then sheep wool. The down side is that Alpaca is not as elastic as sheep wool so if you knit or crochet something that is full alpaca get it wet or stretch it out it does not return to its original shape and size. It is quite all right to mix the two though by blending the wool or even plying a spool of Sheep with a spool of alpaca to get the advantages of both. Thanks so much for all the sharing you guys do of your little piece of heaven there in Manitoba. Every video I watch I have to wonder if maybe I could get adopted. I'm 64 but would love feeding the animals, loving on them and even mucking out barns and buildings. :)

Loved this video. I lived with my friend and her family out in thr country. She had sheep, goats, alpaca, lamas, cats, dogs, peahens, ducks, geese. I love to knit and crochet so I had to experience how yarn was made. Oh Lord, the work. Feeding the animals, caring for sick animals, lambing , steering, cleaning thr wool, carding, dying. I will always love the experience but I prefer buying my yarn ready made. You have to be dedicated with lots of stamina to make your own yarn I still love to crochet Irish crochet and lace making is my specialty

This was soooo interesting as someone growing up in urban areas, and not having much knowledge in what you do. The alpacas look sooo cute! ❣️

Yuppers… our forefathers worked hard! My father was raised on a farm so we all had to learn cows, chickens,pigs, ducks and gardening! It did help me through the years. I have great respect for our farmers.. they are our backbone to our country! 🥰💝

Really interesting information!!! We really are spoiled these days! Processing the wool was such a time consuming process for families but more than that such a necessity!! It really is a shame that wool isn't used more. What a great renewable resource that has been replaced! Thank you for sharing this, you guys do a great job teaching skills that could be otherwise forgotten!!! Stay safe and have a great week!!!

I'm glad you give classes and don't hurt the animals

You responding to so many comments makes me happy. You're a kind and wonderful woman.

At 10:35 I’m glad she stopped you from grabbing the box. Before that you told her to stop mixing the alpaca wool with the water and you’d totally cut her off the way you did that. (In front of a crowd you could’ve said “Let me get you some more water for that”) After that she looked really uncomfortable. Good to see that vibe change. Apart from that this is a very informative video. Thank you all for that ❤️ At 21:56 I felt bad for my comment I placed above here. You’re a great family. I have worked in care and with abandoned children too long I think. 😅 That is also why I just bought some alpaca fleeces to get back to the basics of life. So, thank you again

Hi there, I’ve spent literally years learning what you’re teaching. You’re doing such an excellent job with your work. There’s so much information one has to take in and so much experience one has to gain I really admire that you’re sharing your craft and continuing to learn. That’s what it’s all about.

Glad you guys had a better audience this is time, everyone being respectful but still a very fun environment!

A good source for carding equipment are festivals like the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in NY in October. Lots of stuff from fleeces to looms and everything in between.

How lucky to have someone give you some of these fiber processing/art tools ! I would die of someone offered me a spinning wheel! It is crazy how these arts have become so rare to do by hand anymore.

Veru interesting.

Antique over modern all day every day. That's my life's mission.

I crochet (haven't used wool yet) and this is incredible to see. I definitely will be trying to buy from a small company after tax return season Edit: these are clearly people who love their work, and it makes it so much more enjoyable

Interesting. Fascinating. I have seen sheep & alpaca shorn and always wondered what the next step was after that. I just learned how to knit many years ago & fell in love with a specialty wool yarn that is famous for its gorgeous dyed colors in each skein. I believe it's from New York. Very expensive & now I understand why! Beautiful creatures sheep, alpaca are. We are so blessed. You all do wonderful work rescuing these precious creatures.🥰 Thank you!

This is great! My husband and I are working to save up $ to buy property and start a homestead... It's been tough due to property and real estate prices skyrocketing. I'm keeping notes for the future! We'd love to have sheep for milk and wool, I love to crochet and knit so it'd be super helpful!

Really enjoyed this video. I've never seen yarn spun my hand before. Thank you for sharing the class.

Hi there. I loved your video, thank you. I felt so at home. I live in South Africa. My husband retired from his paid job 15 years ago and bought a small farm in rural Eastern Cape where he has some merino sheep and cattle. I have very recently retired from teaching high school math and am keen to learn how to process and add value to some of our wool. I love your at home approach to sharing what you are doing, and as you said, as you learn yourselves. You are doing a beautiful thing with your family.... and with that I include all the living creatures around you. Beautiful!! May God bless you all abundantly!! ❤️

the instructor for this video is amazing c:

Hello from Ukraine 👋 It's so interesting for me your video 👍👍👍

As a knitter I’ve seen bits and pieces of this process for some years, but never start to finish! This was awesome. Thanks!

this lady is really a good teacher, also could be an excellent interpreter in a museum abt

Most informative for those of us who may have wondered! Thankyou!

This makes me appreciate all my yarn so much more! Thank you for the knowledge ❤

She's a natural teacher

thanks its been 30 years i didn't see it. good to know that you are using different tools to finalize

I'm so glad to have found your channel wish I lived closer... I'd love to volunteer to help!! I remember my grandma an her wheels an paddles an comb's an so so much more. She made lace so she really worked the wool... I miss lanolin an rose oil Gran made... She was a real gem!! Much like your family. Your all gems!! ✌🏼💗😊

I know I'm years late to this video, but just love that you open your house and experience to anyone so freely, hope you are all still doing great work out there!

Absolutely love this. I do medieval reenactment and so many of our members do Sheep to shawl demos. I also have Psoriasis and my heart is with you on that as well. Lanolin and Coconut oil are my go to as well.

Love watching these in my free time.

Thank you so much for the class, wish I was closer to come to your classes. Always been my dream to do spinning, was just learning from my Grandma and she pass away, would love to learn, in her love for the art.

Love the video. Wow really makes me think about the yarn I use to crochet with.

Very interesting video. I appreciate your time in showing the processing of fleece.♥️🇦🇺

The ladies of 10 Acre woods are looking fine and so informative ... Thank you

Love the name of your farm.

I just love your kitchen 😍

This is amazing. The whole process is such hard work. I've never even thought about doing anything like this. I'm so grateful there are lovely people like you that are teaching it and doing it. How we take so many things for granted. Thank you

Awesomeness

The dog by the window 🤣

A perfect way to describe felting would be like making paper.

Awesome

Personally, I've only ever worked with wool on drop spindles, but I dreamed of having a wool wheel when I was younger. Just found your channel and watched this video. Brought back all those old dreams. Thanks so much for sharing.

This is great! Reminds me on days with grandma' ,peace for her soul, and my childhood. She did all this, lived in a village, farm.

22:47 the dog on the window staring at the camera I can’t 😂😂😂😂

Tara! You did a GREAT JOB!!!

I love how the child is so interested in everything going on. There's still some hope left

Thanks so much for sharing the knowledge, oh how i wish i could meet someone who knew the trade to teach and give away their tools....I'm suffering so much bc i can no longer tolerate these regular jobs. I was made for hands on stuff as such.

Thank you!

Wow, thank you for all the info, time and effort you take to show the process of making yarn and even thread.

I have always wanted to know how this process worked! Thank you for sharing this very educational video! Yo! I admire the self sustaining practices staying alive. This was very fun.

That little kid is so fascinated with this entire process. I bet he will grow up and maybe a knitter or crocheter one dad.

Love knowing where things come from! Got an Alpaca sweater I love to wear; incredibly comfortable and relatively easy to clean. Worth every penny! ^^

Luv seeing a teaching of a class. Thank you again for the Great 🎥:)

This is a big manual Job, Thank you for still doing this in 2022. I love farmers and being on the farm. Courage

Awesome! I used to be a knitting addict, so I opened a yarn store back a while ago. I did so much felting for customers (felted bags were big back then). When I was a teenager in Hungary we did weaving with my Mom, that was fun also, especially because that was the only craft we enjoyed together. I still have tons of wool from my shop, I even love to go trough them once in a while, just to adore them. So I'm also a yarn addict too, there I said it, admitted it! Now I could start my healing process and start making some cool project. Great lesson on processing wool! I love it! Thank you so much!

Thank you! That was incredible. I watch sandy Brock making dryer balls but had know idea what a process it is to clean the wool at home. My grams was amazing and crocheting unfortunately I never could get the hang of it. I so enjoyed this vlog! I'm a big fan of all your vlogs

They make it look so easy to process the wool.

You can also knit it extra extra extra large(mens size 14+ shrinks and felts down to size 7 etc) felted its half inch thick fabric. Lasts for 40+ years and you can waterproof it after felting.

I have always wondered how wool was treated etc and found the programmed of the shearing and this one very interesting. It seems like hard work but without people like yourselves we would never have had wool and the follow up etc. thank you for sharing.

I loved watching this! When you were talking about drying everything out in the end, I was reminded of videos I’ve watched of professional (often wool) rug cleaning. When they have a big batch to dry, they set up dehumidifiers. This significantly cuts down their drying times. Just a respectful idea.

Thank you all for sharing. I’ve really learned a lot from this video

My mum made me a felted hat. Best ever when its wet out, the water does not penetrate and just rolls of. Its is a warm hat . Looks funny but I don't care as I cannot see it while i'm wearing it!!

You two are rock stars!!!

You folks are just great. Thanks. So much work. So beautiful.

This is the first time I have seen any process like this taking place. Very educational. Gracias

I enjoyed watching your process. I do not do anything like this but crochet with the end result. Thank you for sharing this.

How absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing this!

Try a SpinOlution wheel they at the best

I used to do spinning in my youth. Fond memories.

What great teachers!

Now I wanna knit, great

I love to crochet and knit and I love seeing how wool is prepared. It's so interesting to see what yarn starts out as, and what it takes to prepare it!

It's weird that I've never searched up anything like what you're doing, but it's something I'd like to do in the future! I'm a crocheter, and have made several clothes and accessories from yarn, but want to take it a step further and make my own yarn from animals I've raised. It would be a dream to own a small farm and be as self sufficient as possible!

LOVED this video!! Fantastic learning the procedure of processing wool at home. It’s truely an almost lost art. Love learning how things used to be done by necessity!❤️❤️💕

WOW!! Super video with lots of information. Thanks for doing what you do with the animals and the wool.

Hello Saph Stitched sent me over.

Very interesting. Thank you 🙂

Hey Mark thank you for showing us how you process wool

This was super wholesome. I really enjoyed it

WOW, that was incredibly educational, thank you!

Very inlighting😊 and 😎

Wonderful! Thank you. Finally I understood how yarn is made :)

Love that you use a shaklee product to decrease.

Graciassss

Pulling back on the fleece as it goes into the drum carder causes the fleece to pile up on the small wheel. Just let the fleece feed itself through and you will have less build up on the small drum.

Thank you so much.✌💕 Love your presentation. Brings back memories of my friends family sheep ranch. And shearing / fleece cleaning day. I would help my friends Back in the late 70's 👍✌😊. LOL ... They used DAWN soap ( added the soap to the hot water first not onto the wool ) in a 50 gallon barrel set up on a stand with a big turkey fryer propane burner underneath. They used a clean livestock watering trough for the wool shearings. The barrel had a ball valve set in the bottom bung. So they could just run a hose right into the wool trough.

Wiw! What a process! So much eork, yet looks like fun! Thank you for sharing!

Very interesting.