Founding partners: Gretchen Frederick and Sue Bundy
Partners: Kathy Reed, Kim Pierce, and Debbie Deutsch
Other Solitude Woolies: Moira Ramsey and Cindy Potter
How did Solitude Wool get started?
Sue and Gretchen were both raising sheep whose wool is not as commercially appreciated as that from finewool breeds. Sue raises Karakul, and Gretchen raises Romney. They met through the Loudoun Valley Sheep Producers in Virginia. Shepherds in their area raising non-finewool sheep were having difficulty selling their raw wool, especially the shepherds who were not fiber folks. Gretchen was already selling her handspun yarn at Virginia and Washington, DC, farmers markets at that time.
Sue and Gretchen discovered they were both thinking the same thing: so much interesting local wool was going to waste, and they wanted to do something with it. They made the bold decision to start buying local fleeces and using small US mills to create breed-specific yarn. This was rather unheard of at the time, and so in 2006, Solitude Wool was born.
What is your favorite part of the process?
Each of us have different preferences in the spectrum of tasks. Sue, Gretchen, and Kathy lovingly raise fiber animals. While Kim respects their work, she’d rather apply labels to finished skeins than muck out a barn. Sue and Kathy have the pleasure of going to local farms, and after the fiber returns from the mill on cones, Moira and Cindy expertly wrangle the yarn into skeins. Debbie usually handles online orders and shipping. And these are just a few of the hats we wear!
How is your fiber produced today?
Solitude Wool’s yarn and fiber is gently processed, and every step along the way happens in the United States, if not even more locally in our own fibershed, the Chesapeake Fibershed, which covers the area of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We are a small, women- and veteran-owned/women-run business that works with other small businesses to bring wool gently off the backs of sheep to transform it into beautiful yarn and fiber. We believe our products authentically represent the sheep breeds they come from, all the while respecting the environment, the people, and the sheep. We are official providers for the Livestock Conservancy’s “Shave ’Em to Save ’Em” campaign and a producer member of the Chesapeake Fibershed.
What are your plans for the future?
We hope and plan to continue to share information, fiber, and yarn from different sheep breeds through sustainable practices to safeguard genetic diversity in sheep and their marvelous wool! We are currently redesigning our website, revising product photography, and working on more product reviews and videos to help people select and use breed-specific wool yarns and fibers that might be new to them. Visit solitudewool.com for more information.
This article previously appeared in Spin Off Winter 2023.