Wool Buy 2024
Earlier this year, we traveled out west for the first time since 2019 with a mission: to reconnect with our Rambouillet wool source in the Navajo Nation. Having spun up the last of what we'd had stored away until our dyehouse solution was found for our most recent batch of Peace Fleece Worsted, it was time to procure new wool for our next spin.
We spent a sunny May afternoon at Diné College, meeting with the organizers heading the agricultural programs at the campus and witnessing firsthand, with great excitement, as raw wool rolled in throughout the day, where it was sorted, graded, and marked with the name of each originating family.
Working with our liaison Stanley, who was there to also teach a workshop on wool grading with students at the college, we worked out some of the nitty-gritty details of the wool purchase, and were able to lay the initial groundwork for what we hope will flourish as a consistent and mutually beneficial partnership.
We were grateful for the time and expertise of everyone we met, and enjoyed every moment of our brief time amidst the red rock and endless blue skies.
It’s a lovely thing to know our yarn stands as a fine product on its own, but we reflect often on Peace Fleece founder Peter Hagerty's original vision for the brand, and the importance of connections: bridging the past to the present in meaningful ways, and seeking to improve practices wherever we can so that the next generation is able to carry forward with confidence into the future.
To be able to offer a product with a deeper purpose means more to us than simply producing really great yarn, and we are excited to tend this little flame for as long as we can.
As we continue to work out all the many small but crucial details and look towards the arrival of our wool, processed, blended, dyed, and ready for the mill to spin, our vision of stabilizing our supply chain to meet the patient, joyful, and ever-growing demand for Peace Fleece yarn in meaningful and practical ways inches closer to fruition.
We are one step closer to spinning up more of our Worsted line, and after that we'll be turning back to Peace Fleece DK, eventually bringing our lighter weight yarn back into the world and in the hands of knitters who share our love of good wool. The future is promising.
We can't help but look at our yarn and see, amongst its colorful, heathered plies, the places and people that make it all possible.
