Fiber Artist Profile: Fran Stafford

This is the first in a series of posts profiling fiber artists who are participating in Shave 'Em to Save 'Em. Fran Stafford is one of only two people who have already spun at least 15 of the wools on the Conservation Priority List. You can find her online at her blog.

What fiber art(s) do you participate in and for how long have you done each one?
Crochet, started about 57 years ago and now only use it rarely.
Knitting, started about 58 years ago, made one sweater poorly, quit until 15 years ago and took it up again, knitting mill spun yarn.
Spinning with a drop spindle about 10 years ago, added a wheel, then more wheels beginning about 6 years ago. My preferred fiber art.
Weaving on a small rigid heddle loom about 3 years ago, did not like it and sold it, but started Revolutionary War reenactment and built and weave on a box/tape loom, got a 5' tri-loom for Christmas and have made two shawls.

Fran spinning at her village's
centennial celebration of its
covered bridge

When did you start working with fiber from rare breeds of sheep?
Without knowing they were rare breeds, I have been using Jacob, Shetland, and Leicester Longwool since I started spinning.

What was your biggest surprise when you purchased your first rare breed wool? 
No real surprises until I started SE2SE and realized how different the micron count, staple length, and softness or lack of there was.

Have you had any challenges purchasing wool directly from shepherds? 
Most have been prompt and very courteous about responding to either let me know how to order from them directly or where their online shop was, but there have been a couple that were private messaged on FB and never received a response.

What do you love most about working with rare breeds?
The difference in texture requiring me to up my spinning skills to accommodate.

Hap shawl in progress using the 15 breeds already spun

What is your favorite wool from sheep on the Conservation Priority List and why?
I really, really love Jacob for its color variation on each fleece and it's crisp texture spinning and knitting, but Shetland is a close second.

What bit of advice would you give another fiber artists who is just starting to explore the world of rare breed wools?
Don't feel like you have to do an entire raw fleece from each breed, try a few ounces from a couple of breeders as they will be different. Use undyed wool, it feels entirely different than dyed wools. This is an experiment to try different ones. A blanket or large shawl will allow you to use the single skeins you purchase or spin. I am indebted to my friend and shepherd, Gail Groot who told me about this challenge last summer and let me know when it was about to actually start.

Strengthening the farm-to-fashion supply chain

What is the Hudson Valley Textile Project?

Lilly Marsh, HVTP board member: The Hudson Valley Textile Project is a 501 C 3 non-profit consortium of fiber producers, processors, artisans and consumers focusing on strengthening a farm-to-fashion supply chain here along the 250 mile Hudson River watershed. Our region has a growing farm-rural tourism industry primarily organized around food, but we are working to educate consumers (and producers) that fiber products can be seen as the same fusion between agriculture and creativity. Like the local food movement, local cloth touches on a range of consumer concerns including environmental concerns around sustainable land use and carbon sequestration, responsible animal welfare management, the support of small production and regional manufacturing jobs and capacity, a growing value among artisan fiber artists for local materials and processing, and a corresponding growth in consumer value for ‘slow fashion’ over disposable fast fashion models.

We are a young organization as yet, but are currently offering a number of benefits to our members designed to assist them in connecting to retailers and consumers, including promotion on social media platforms, maintenance of a regional resource list, product hangtags identifying local production, a curated photo library for member use in their own promotional work, and organizational representation at selected craft and trade shows. We are currently exploring the idea of a sellers’ cooperative that would further knit local raw material production with processors and end users.

Our third annual meeting, March 20th at SUNY New Paltz, offered members an opportunity to network and show off their products, as well as bring themselves up to date on regional topics and collaborations. Our keynote speaker this year was Stephany Wilkes, sheep shearer and author of Raw Material: Working Wool in the West, and president of the Northern California Fibershed Cooperative.

How do you work with shepherds?

The HVTP organization offers the shepherd connections to those artisans and retailers interested in working with local wool and alpaca. Through those connections, a shepherd can begin to understand the needs and preferences of the fiber community. This can be a simple as offering a shepherd promotional space on our social media platforms, or a far deeper collaboration between members of the organization.

One example of the deeper collaborations has been between Blue Pepper Farm, a high peaks area sheep dairy operation in Jay NY, and myself, the weaver at Lilly Marsh Studios. I became interested in developing a Hudson Valley studio yarn and had met Shannon Eaton, Blue Pepper’s shepherd, through the HVTP. I worked with her one afternoon 2017 on skirting her fleeces and helping her understand the aspects of her wool that would concern a fiber artist. That year, Shannon commissioned me to weave about 10 yards of fabric for her use. I was quite impressed with her wool and I purchased her entire 2018 clip. Her work in keeping the fleeces clean and in thoroughly skirting the 2018 clip was a strong supporting factor in that purchase. Her East Friesian dairy wool, blended with Little Creek Alpaca fiber (80/20 blend), and spun in a semi-worsted process, is making up into some stunning blankets and yardage for sewing, and I’ll be marketing them this summer and fall. They will also be featured in the fall issue of Ply Magazine, a handspinner’s publication. I am planning on purchasing her entire 2019 clip at this point.

Collaborations of this kind develop over time and can grow out of the most informal of connections. As one of the weavers for the Battenkill Fiber Mill in Greenwich NY, I make myself available to shepherds who want to understand the milling and weaving process, and how to best present their wool into that process. Due to the conversations that Shannon and I had over the skirting table in 2017, Shannon’s work to keep contamination at a minimum throughout the year, and her excellent skirting in 2018, paid off. Her 2018 clip gave me an amazing 80% yield from raw weight to finished yarn on her fleeces, and made the $3 per pound price on the 32 fleeces well worth the investment.

Does a shepherd need to have a flock of a certain size before you will work with them?

No. We are fortunate in our region to have a processor who is happy to work with very small batches (even a single fleece). Battenkill Fiber Mill acts as a central hub in our work as its commitment to the small producer allows for small flocks to foster their own yarns for sale at local markets and yarn shops. Mary Jeanne Packer, the mill owner, is very experienced in working with a wide variety of breeds, and in leveraging the entire production process to the end goal of the yarn.

Is there a profile of an ideal shepherd who works with you?

Our shepherds are all very interested in marketing and selling their wool, and are often heavily involved in local farmers markets or their own on-farm shops for a variety of farm products. They are often either strongly connected to fiber arts themselves, or are at least quite knowledgeable about the field.

Are there any common misconceptions that you hear from shepherds?

Shepherds who are not themselves fiber artists are often strikingly unknowledgeable about their wool and with unrealistic expectations of the milling process to transform it into vegetable matter free soft yarn. Vegetable matter and plastic threads are very difficult to remove from the wool once they are present. As the process moves on towards yarn and an end product, it becomes increasingly difficult to remove. As a weaver, I inspect my final cloth with tweezers, picking out visible pieces, but hours spent at that task greatly increase the cost of the final product. And I have refused to work with wool that is too contaminated as such yarn can damage my power loom, causing jams and misfires.

To some shepherds, all yarn is the same, and they recognize little differentiation between a strong high twist sock yarn, a soft 3-ply baby yarn, or a woolen spun 2 ply for sweaters, or a fine worsted singles for weaving yardage. Wool is not interchangeable in suitability for specific purposes. If a shepherd has the chance to work with a fiber artist through your Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em program, it is an excellent opportunity for the farmer to understand far more about their own wool’s properties for various end uses.

You can connect with Lilly on Instagram @lillymarsh or on her Facebook page.

Shepherd profile: Cathy Payne, Gulf Coast Native

Photo credit: James L. Hicks

This is the third in a series of Q&As with Livestock Conservancy members who raise sheep or have raised sheep for wool. The opinions expressed by the shepherds do not necessarily reflect those of The Livestock Conservancy. 

Cathy Payne raised Gulf Coast Native sheep  from 2011 to 2016 at Broad River Pastures in Elberton, Georgia, where she says, "summers are hot and humid. Winters are wet and mucky."

Why should a breeder sell the wool from their sheep? 

If raising a heritage wool breed, it is important to make selection decisions based on the quality of the wool so you are knowledgeable about your flock and the value of the wool. If you do not select carefully, the quality of your wool will suffer. I raised Gulf Coast Native sheep which were used for handspun and hand knit clothing as early as the 1500s. While the wool can be processed at a mill, I chose to work with hand spinners. I discovered that the wool was very prized by them for its softness, ease of cleaning, and ease of spinning. I listened to their comments regarding sheen, crimp, staple, and color. I selected breeding lambs with those traits in mind and culled heavily for a meat market. I also took data on lambing, ease of lambing, mothering abilities, hoof health, and vulnerability to worms. I trained in Famacha so I wormed only as needed. Sheep that required worming more than once per year were culled. I learned out to skirt fleeces for better value to spinners and to get top dollar.

Is it difficult to raise your sheep with an eye towards selling the wool? Why or why not? 

Not at all. It added much joy to my flock. I did need to modify my hay feeder to avoid hay and seeds falling into the wool. However, living in the south I would never coat my sheep. It is too expensive anyway.

Why have you chosen to sell your wool as raw fleece, roving, yarn, etc rather than in a different form? Or why have you chosen to do all of the above? 

I sold the occasional fleece raw. However, I got more value trading to spinners. They would keep a portion of a fleece and return the remaining portion washed, dyed, and spun or washed and spun without dying. Some would make wool balls or soap sacks. It was more profitable for me to sell a finished product. More people knit than spin.

What is one important thing you learned about sheep management as it relates to selling their wool? 

 See comments above about keeping fleeces clean and culling hard. Docking tails helps keep the hind fleece clean. Long tails and scours will make a mess. Bottle lambs have a higher incidence of scours.

What is one surprising thing you learned about coating your sheep -- or having sheep that are not coated? 

It can be a challenge to keep sheep clean but it is worth a minor effort.

What is one important thing you learned about selling your wool? 

Never under price, and market to people who appreciate a premium product. I got $16 a pound for fleece but $32 for 300 feet of 2 ply yarn, dyed. At shearing, I kept all fleeces separate and labeled by the name of the sheep. When I packaged fleeces or yarn, they were labeled with the name of the sheep. Some customers would contact me annually to purchase “Luna’s fleece” or "Luna’s yarn." It was also a novelty to sell soap in soap socks with the name of and photograph of the sheep. Premium pricing!

Are you a Livestock Conservancy member who sells your wool? Want to share your experiences? Email Deborah with your answers to the above questions, and you may be featured in an upcoming post.