My husband and I have just returned from a 2 week holiday which took us clear across this vast country of ours to the Maritime provinces of Canada. We saw a bit of New Brunswick, and a lot of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Along with miles of stunning beaches and countryside ( this photo was taken at Peggy’s Cove) and very interesting historical sites, I had the chance to visit some wonderful fibre cottage industries; one in each province.

I brought back enough fibre to keep me spinning through a long, northern winter, with visions of ocean waves and fibre farms dancing in my head.

In New Brunswick we visited London-Wul http://thewoolworks.com/welcome.htm.This shop is located about 20 minutes outside of Moncton on the owners farm. Heidi produces most of the fibres sold in the store, many of them hand dyed and spun. These include wool, angora rabbit and mohair. There are a number of stunning wool tapestries on display, depicting rural life, designed and created by the owner. The back of the store houses a large, well equipped teaching and workshop area and right outside the store is her dyeing studio. London-Wul is definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. I bought some soysilk roving for spinning as well as some knitting notions at this shop.

In the heart of Acadian country, Nova Scotia, we visited an organic alpaca and vegetable farm called Wild Rose Farms. There was no shop here, just a wooden building near the road where vegetables and some yarn is kept for roadside sales. If the owners are not home an honour box is available for visitors to leave their payment when they pick up their vegetables, berries, honey or eggs. We were lucky enough to catch them at home and were given a tour of the farm as well as the opportunity to feed the alpacas. The yarn produced here is luxuriously soft and available in deep, rich, natural colours. I bought 2 skeins; 1 in a very deep, rich brown and 1 in white, for dyeing. The brown yarn is currently on my needles being knit into a pair of spiral socks. I can hardly wait to get these on my feet! I also purchased a 400 gram bag of raw alpaca fibre for processing, for just $4.00.

By the way, the fence in this photo is electric, and although she warned us about it, I managed to lean on it while ooohing over the alpaca and got a nasty shock!

On to Belfast Mini Mills, in the heart of the picturesque Prince Edward Island countryside. http://www.minimills.net/This place was amazing! Not only do they produce and process all their own fibre, they also build all the machinery used in the process. Washers, pickers, carders and spinning machines are all designed and built right on this working farm. We got the full tour of the mill and I had a tough time controlling my impulse to buy out the shop afterwards! It’s stocked with beautiful woven items produced on the weaving loom right in the shop, as well as a wall full of hand dyed rovings and yarns in every colour imaginable. We bought a number of woven items for gifts as well as a big bag of merino/bamboo roving, in ocean hues, for spinning. My head was spinning after leaving that glorious fibre emporium!

All of these cottage industries are well worth the trip if you’re in the Maritime area. Be sure to check out the beautiful beaches as well.

Posted in knitting, spinning