Woolen Warbler

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Woolen Warbler Fiber Artist Based in Virginia
Working with Wool and Natural Fibers
Spinning, Knitting, Dyeing, etc

I had so much fun working on this project! This roving is from an amazing farm located in Ohio and the fleece is from a ...
27/03/2026

I had so much fun working on this project!

This roving is from an amazing farm located in Ohio and the fleece is from a fun lady named 1791. She’s a Polypay x rambouillet x corriedale cross and the staple length is 5” (making it a dream to spin)!

I asked the mill to turn this full fleece into roving and was going to spin as is but after a few plain white skeins I realized I wanted some color.

Now I just need to figure out what to knit 😅

2 ply weighing 200 grams
Spun on my EEW 6.1 by

I’ve finally finished spinning a full fleece worth of yarn!! ⁠1236 grams of Border Leicester Sheep from North Carolina!...
10/02/2026

I’ve finally finished spinning a full fleece worth of yarn!! ⁠
1236 grams of Border Leicester Sheep from North Carolina! ⁠
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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀 :⁠
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In 2025 I decided it was time to process a raw sheep’s fleece into yarn.⁠
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My goal for this project was, and still is, to keep detailed records from start to finish. I was curious how feasible it is for a person to go from a raw fleece to finished yarn. Although I haven’t been the best at recording visual media for this, I have kept detailed notes from start to finish! ⁠
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Something important to note, I made the decision to not do any of the raw fleece washing in my space because I live in a small apartment. I don’t have access to a yard and you really shouldn’t pour lanolin down the drain. Part of this process, for me, was choosing a fiber mill to at least wash my fleece. For some of my longer staple length fibers I opted to have them turned into roving as well. ⁠
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𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 :⁠
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I ended up with a little more fleece than I had in roving. I bought two border leicester fleeces from this farmer. I believe at some point I accidentally pulled some roving from the other bag without realizing it. Once I’ve process that other fleece I’ll be able to confirm that but up until the final skein weights, everything was accurate (oops!) ⁠
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Raw Fleece Weight : 2222 grams (4.9 lbs)⁠
Weight after Skirting : 1723 grams (3.8 lbs)⁠
Roving Weight from Mill : 1133 grams (2.5 lbs) ⁠
Total Weight of Skeins : 1236 grams (2.7 lbs) - *oops*⁠
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Percentage loss from raw fleece to skein : 44%⁠
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All except about 294 grams are a two ply yarn, I decided for the last two skeins to do a three ply and a chain ply. Second photo is comparing one of the first two ply with my three ply for fun. ⁠
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𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 :⁠
⁠
It took roughly 19 weeks to have the two fleeces processed into roving from the mill. The dates are as followed :⁠
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Raw Fleece purchased : May 2025⁠
Raw Fleece Received : May 2025⁠
Raw Fleece Skirted and Mailed to Mill : June 2025⁠
Roving Received from Mill : Oct 2025 ⁠
All Roving turned to yarn : Feb 2026

Almost all the skeins I spun in 2025!! ⁠⁠Last year in April I went to my first fiber festival (Maryland Sheep and Wool)....
11/01/2026

Almost all the skeins I spun in 2025!! ⁠
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Last year in April I went to my first fiber festival (Maryland Sheep and Wool). I bought roving while I was there and started spinning my own yarn with a drop spindle shortly after. I was, of course, instantly hooked! ⁠
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Admittedly, it took me a while to finish a skein on the spindle, and I found myself wanting to go faster. I decided to go with ‘s EEW 6.1. And wow, it is a total game changer! ⁠
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I ordered my wheel from the and with an order like this, they include a free pound of Rosie’s Wool Roving! I knew I’d want a little more so I also bought their 2023 Conservation Breed Fiber Bundle (Wensleydale, White Lonk, Swaledale, and Jacob). ⁠
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That bundle and being at the festival got me really considering where my wool comes from. Then I learned of the and their Shave ’Em, Save ’Em program. I joined immediately and The Shave ‘em, Save ‘em project is what really pushed me to start sourcing local raw fleeces, I haven’t looked back since. ⁠
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In the first photo, the top row is skeins spun from the store bought roving, and the bottom row is everything spun from my processed fleeces. I’m officially all in on the fleece to garment journey now, I just need to actually start knitting something 😂 ⁠
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Goals for this year is to not only knit using my yarn but to also do a better job of personally documenting my process. While I’ve loosely tracked most of these I think keeping a spinning journal will be a fun addition. ⁠
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If you spun in 2025, what did you learn? And if you’ve ever been curious about spinning, this might be your sign to give it a try!

Earlier this year I published my first pattern on Ravelry! ⁠⁠My inspiration came while working at my local yarn shop. B...
12/12/2025

Earlier this year I published my first pattern on Ravelry! ⁠
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My inspiration came while working at my local yarn shop. Beginner knitters would come in asking for a simple garter stitch scarf pattern and surprisingly, there weren’t very many with nice edges. ⁠
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So I felt like it was time to add a simple pattern with a fun design that is very easy to follow. I also added the reversible slip stitches for a fun repeat that also adds an easy design element. ⁠
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Now that winter is here again I’m glad to be able to whip this bad boy out again.

The mishaps of mill processed fleeces!⁠⁠This year I dove headfirst into turning raw fleece into yarn. I bought four flee...
08/12/2025

The mishaps of mill processed fleeces!⁠
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This year I dove headfirst into turning raw fleece into yarn. I bought four fleeces and sent each one to a different mill to compare how they handled prep. Three were Border Leicesters, and one was an Ile de France/Targhee cross with a staple length of about 2.5–3 inches. That was the fleece I was most excited about because I really wanted something soft to spin after all the medium wool I knew I’d be getting back.⁠
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The mill I chose for this fleece is very experienced with finer fibers, but short staples can still be tricky. When my order was ready, they let me know they could only turn it into loose roving and that there were a lot of neps. I expected some, but wow, I was not prepared for what I saw when I opened the bag. I don’t blame the mill at all, this is just one of the risks of sending very short fibers through commercial carding equipment. I knew there would be risks, I just didn’t know how bad it could get.⁠
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The first two photos show the difference pretty clearly. One skein is spun straight from the roving as it arrived, bumps and all. The other is spun after combing and hand picking out the neps. Photo 3 is just a small sample of the huge piles of neps I was pulling out as I spun.⁠
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Because the roving is so full of neps, turning this wool into usable yarn has been very slow, and my final yield isn’t looking great. I started with 9.5 pounds of raw wool, received 4.5 pounds of loose roving back, and now I’m losing about half of that while making it workable. The upside is that I now have plenty of wool stuffing (see the last picture for the neppy pile destined for stuffing).⁠
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This whole experience has been a huge learning moment, and from now on, all my shorter staple fleeces will be wash only so I can hand process them myself.⁠
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Now I just need to figure out what on earth to knit with this very hard earned wool!

Sparrow’s fleece is officially skirted and ready for washing!⁠⁠Living in an apartment means no yard space and not much r...
05/12/2025

Sparrow’s fleece is officially skirted and ready for washing!⁠
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Living in an apartment means no yard space and not much room to tackle a full fleece wash. Scouring raw wool takes up a surprising amount of space (and creates a shocking amount of greasy water lol). Thankfully, there are several local mills near me that offer wash only services.⁠
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It’s the perfect middle ground, I still get the fun of doing the rest of the processing myself, without having to figure out what to do with buckets of lanolin heavy water in a small apartment.⁠
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I can’t wait to see how Sparrow’s wool turns out once it’s washed!⁠
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If you’re curious about what mills might be near you, I’ve added a link in my bio with a list of small to mid-sized fiber mills.

Meet John, one of the sheep whose fleece I’ll be processing this year (or maybe next year, we all know how projects go 😅...
03/12/2025

Meet John, one of the sheep whose fleece I’ll be processing this year (or maybe next year, we all know how projects go 😅).⁠
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One of the biggest reasons I decided to work from raw fleece is getting to know exactly where my yarn comes from. I haven’t met this handsome guy in person, but I did get to chat with his farmers, and I’m genuinely so excited to spin his wool.⁠
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This whole project has brought me so much joy that I’m hoping to do it every year, and eventually I’d love to actually meet the sheep behind the fleece.⁠
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Stay tuned for the process!

01/12/2025

Catching up on some older project posts!

I absolutely love this color combination and excited to have a pair of gloves in it 🤩

Foster kitten was of course a paid actor 😉

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