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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Stansborough Grey Fleece


(photo credit:  pfeiferstudio.com)

Those of you who get Spin-Off Magazine probably read the article on the Stansborough Grey breed of sheep.  Those of you who are Lord of the Rinngs and Chronicles of Narnia movie geeks probably know about this as well.  Those of you who are both, are likely drooling.

After reading the article (and wiping the drool off of my chin) I was inspired to contact the Stansborough Farm in New Zealand, the sole source of this fiber which sounds so amazing, to see if they had any fleece available.  They do, and I was assisted by a couple of delightful ladies at the farm.  It is raw fleece that they hand wash and dry especially for spinners.  They only have the light grey and medium grey available at this time and the dark is rarely available to sell as fleece as they use almost all of it in their textile production.  There is also a waiting list to purchase the fleece.

So, I will be the proud owner of 2 Kilos (approximately 4 pounds) of washed fleece when all is said and done because that is the minimum they would ship.  The fleece wasn't too extravagant but the shipping was horrible.  Too bad brother Johnny isn't coming stateside anytime soon!  He could stuff his baggage full of fleece for me.  Not sure he loves me that much!

I am wondering if any other spinners out there have a desire to try this wool out as well?  I really don't need four pounds of it...Contact me if you do please.

Go to the International fleeces site to see their very thorough discussion of the breed and to see photos of those amazing textiles that will set your salivatory glands working overtime...

10 comments:

  1. Hi,
    I might be intersted in buying a little, I am dead curiuos to compare this fleece with "normal" gotland sheep fleece.
    What would be your price for whatever you could press into a flat rate envelope/box?
    Kathe Lewis, Denmark

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  2. I forgot, please contact me on kathe@mycrafts.dk
    Kathe

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  3. I'm curious too, if you still have more than you need, and I'm in Norway. You can reach me here: ewennevold@gmail.com

    -- Elisabeth

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  4. Do you have any extra left? i'm very interested.... marmotmtn at yahoo.com

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  5. I am interested too if you should have any you can part with : dragonfiddle at yahoo.com
    Sarah (New Jersey)

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  6. I am very interested in taking some! -- is there any left now?

    jaldub83@aol.com (upstate New York)

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  7. How was this to spin? I may decide to order some someday! I wonder if there is any way to raise this breed of sheep stateside... I'd love to get a few of these when I get some land. Been trying to decide what breed of sheep to get!

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    1. It is nice to spin, though not unlike spinning a finer Gotland fleece. I don't know if the folks sell their breeding stock or not...right now they have a corner on the market!

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  8. About how much did the 2 kilos cost? I suppose you don't have any left after three years... Just wondering if you could point me in the right direction of buying some myself!

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  9. Hi Bri, Sorry I didn't see your comment until now....I don't have any left and i can't recall offhand how much it was! I think it was something like $80 and the shipping was $65. I bought it directly from the Stansborough Grey Farm...if you google them you will find it and they have it for sale on their website or you can contact them via email. They never seem to have the darkest fleece available but lots of the light and medium.

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