Ba ba black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
That old nursery rhyme still has meaning today; at Custom Woolen Mills, we are ALWAYS looking for coloured wool!
In the old days, while a black sheep was sometimes cursed for its antics (often perceived as not running with the flock), coloured wool was a prized addition to hand-worked yarns and fabrics - anything to provide a bit of natural contrast and patterning. However, as chemical dyes became more prominent, sheep were increasingly bred to be pure white so that their wool could easily be dyed over. As a result, coloured wool often fetches some of the lowest prices on the wool market and few farmers keep many coloured sheep around (and sometimes even just throw the coloured fleeces out).
Since we do things the old-fashioned way here at the mill, making many natural coloured wool yarns, we still value coloured sheep's wool - browns, greys, and blacks - and pay top dollar for nice, clean, coloured raw wool of any wool sheep breed type. If you or someone you know have a Western Canadian flock of sheep with lots of coloured wool, don't throw it out, instead get in touch with us!
