I wrote a couple weeks ago about signing up as a fiber artist with the Livestock Conservancy’s Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em program. As soon as I got signed up, I began the hunt for endangered breed yarns! You might imagine that it takes a little looking, and you would be right. The Livestock Conservancy makes it a bit easier by having a pretty cool interactive map to search with. Also, there is an active Ravelry group with some farmers posting pretty regularly.
The Ravelry group is where I found my first yarn provider – Sonja of The Farm at the End of the Road in Queen Creek, Arizona. They have some of the endangered breed sheep themselves, and also work with people in their nearby areas who have small numbers of sheep and don’t bother to sell their fleeces themselves. So they are a great resource, as well as being just super-nice 🙂 They don’t really have an online store per se – email them or message them on Ravelry. Sonja was very responsive, and glad to let you know what they have on hand.
In addition to my skein of Tunis breed yarn, Sonja also sent me some interesting information about the breed and about their farm. Also, not included in the picture, she sent me a cute button that says “Warning – I carry pointy sticks and I’m not afraid to use them!” The yarn is a little toothy, and is a lovely creamy color. I wouldn’t say rough, but its not super-soft. It is a sturdier yarn, though, and I can’t wait to see what I can make of it!
Finding some of these yarns is going to be a challenge for sure. The animals themselves are not too common – as implied by the program. Many of the growers do not have a web presence, so don’t have nifty interactive online shops. A LOT of them have a phone number and that is it. Fleeces are a little bit easier to find for some of the breeds, to the point that this might be the thing that pushes me to learn spinning, which I have resisted up to now. We shall see on that, though. In any case – first sticker in my passport!
Quite A Yarn 
Wow! A breed of sheep originally from Tunisia. When we went there on holiday when I was about 10 or 11 and I just remember it being dry and dusty desert like and riding a camel and bringing a toy camel home on the plane that was huge. Not a place you think of there being sheep, but then the owners live in Arizona…so I guess that’s similar environment for them. I’m very interested to see the breeds you manage to track down and use. If you decide to try spinning there are lots and lots of spinning groups on Ravelry including ones for people selling spinning equipment.
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I know – I would not have thought it either, but there it is 🙂 So neat that you have been there! Learning about the different breeds and how they all ended up where they are is definitely going to be a big part of the interest with this program. 🙂 Thank you for the tip! Spinning is not a done deal for me yet, but it has crossed my mind a few times. So we shall see 🙂
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I love that “shave em to save em” initiative. That is so cool! I have always enjoyed watching the “sheep to shawl” competitions at our local farm show.
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It is a really nifty initiative! Here’s hoping it’s wildly successful 🙂
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Pretty neat. A good way to make the animal viable and not used for meat.
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I have a friend that spins, and she learned it from her County Extension agent. The agent had some resources and some people to contact for supplies and advice. My friend says it’s positively addicting and you start to experiment with different blends and that the most time-consuming part is the carding.
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That is good to know! Thank you 🙂
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