Learning how to make our own yarn, took us to the CCWG, otherwise known as the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers located in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada.
We had already learned how to dye fibre, spin wool and even weave on a used loom we had sourced. We even had raised some German Angora rabbits, learning to shear them a few times a year. Since angora is very warm you often mix a little in with wool. So far, all our wool fibre had been preconditioned, and very limited in the amounts available. It was time to find a better supply. This led us to the CCWG, again, but a different section from the animal feed.
When you enter the old Train Round House Entrance of the CCWG, the original Ticket Booth is to the left. If you would like a free tour, there is always someone to give you some amazing facts which includes a complete tour of the large facility. That has wool coming from across Canada to be processed. It also has wool coming in from many other countries to be sorted and shipped as well.
The tour ended in the fleece room, where you can choose full fleeces from different staple lengths, found in different bins. Black fleece is actually quite rare, and when it comes in there is a waiting list for the very patient.
Being our first fleece, we choose a smaller fuller piece, picking out as much vegetation as possible before we went off to the scales. In total we paid $15 Cdn for our stinky bag of wool. It was such a great experience!
Now the job of cleaning it….