Clinging to the east coast of Canada, Prince Edward Island (PEI) is best known for bright red soil, world-famous beaches, and a red-headed girl named Anne [of Green Gables]. Sheep, wool, and fiber crafts may not be the first thing that come to mind, but there is a thriving fiber culture on this small island in the Atlantic.
At the eastern end of PEI, Fleece and Harmony Woollen Mill spins and hand-dyes the fleeces from island sheep and turns them into beautiful yarns for handcrafting. The mill does not use any synthetic fibers or superwashed wools in its production of the yarns, and its focus is to create skeins with a unique, artisanal quality sought out by knitters and crocheters around the world.
Point Prim Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island, Canada; built in 1845. Photo by Nick Kwan on Unsplash
An Unexpected Path
In 2012, having escaped the corporate business world—and with no previous farming experience—my husband and I purchased a 90-acre farm and a small flock of sheep. We named the farm Harmony Meadow and enrolled in an agricultural training program that covered all the bases to get started, from fences to feed to sheep husbandry. We had no intention of starting a yarn business, only a goal to raise sheep on grass and not squander anything provided by the flock. As the flock grew, it became clear that a plan was necessary for the wool that was piling up in the barn.
Harmony Meadow Farm is located a short distance from a small woollen mill manufacturer that also provides custom spinning. The first year, the Harmony Meadow wool was taken to the mill to be spun and the wool yielded 60 skeins of yarn in natural white and natural black. The skeins were quickly snapped up by local shops catering to the tourists who visit PEI. When the local mill stopped accepting custom work—and with no satisfactory alternative on the island—we purchased a full mill, and Fleece and Harmony was born.
A Loyalty to Local and Artisanal Production
Fleece and Harmony is committed to producing untreated (non-superwash) yarns for handknitting using locally sourced wool from PEI farms. The primary breed of sheep on the island is Rideau Arcott. This breed was developed in Canada as part of a breeding program in the 1970s and 80s.
The breed is not widely known in other countries and is not recognized as a “wool” breed. However, as a happy coincidence, the wool from these prolific sheep has a lovely, organized crimp with a slightly lustrous finish. The resulting yarns are softer than expected and give excellent stitch definition and bounce to knitted fabrics.
The mill processes about six thousand pounds of wool a year. It also produces yarns in different weights, from lace to bulky. Most of the yarns are spun in the natural colors of the fleeces and are then dyed, by hand, using Greener Shades heavy-metal-free acid dyes. Greener Shades produces only nine colors, but Fleece and Harmony designs about 100 different colorways by blending the colors by hand. Dyeing the yarns in the hank, after spinning, means that even the solid-color yarns have a special tonal quality that distinguishes them from commercially made yarns.
Setting up the spinner.
This is a labor-intensive process. Because Fleece and Harmony spins only fiber that comes directly from the farm, the first step is to sort and grade the wool. The wool is then washed using a gentle pH-balanced scour.
There are several combing steps to prepare the wool before it goes to the spinner. Once the plies have been spun, they are combined to make two-ply and three-ply yarns. The yarns are wound into hanks and then dyed. The dye lots are small—between nine and twelve skeins depending on the weight of the yarn to be dyed.
Yarn skeins hung before dyeing.
Flock-Specific Yarns
PEI is home to some unique types of sheep. The mill produces special-batch yarns made from the wool gathered from these flocks. One enterprising and enthusiastic shepherd on the island raises his sheep outside, all year ’round. This mixed-breed flock was carefully chosen to be hardy and resilient. They live outside but have access to shelter in the lush hedgerows that surround their pastures.
The wool from these sheep is very distinct in its texture. It is quite dense, with a matte finish. Because the wool is very white, the yarn makes a lovely base for rich jewel tones and distinctive variegated colorways. This fleece is spun into a lovely, flock-specific, fingering-weight yarn called Wildwinds 2-ply.
Ewe and her lamb strolling side by side at Fleece and Harmony Farm.
There is also a small flock of Icelandic sheep on the island. Some of the wool from this flock is spun to make a single-ply yarn in the Lopi tradition, which takes advantage of the particular characteristics of the Icelandic fleeces.
Spreading the Word and Fiber-y Goodness
Fleece and Harmony’s small shop in the woollen mill located on the farm has expanded over the years. With the understanding that knitters want to knit with other fibers and yarn types, the shop’s collection has been curated to include carefully selected yarns. Fleece and Harmony is now a Rowan Flagship store—the only one east of Ontario.
Yarns in the shop.
Fleece and Harmony also maintains an active YouTube channel, with a biweekly Woolcast featuring farm and mill updates, project reviews, and special segments on knitting, spinning, and other crafts being done by the Fleece and Harmony team. There is always lively discussion and joyful fun. With almost seven million views, the Woolcast is integral to supporting the mill and shop.
Fleece and Harmony yarns are exclusively sold from the yarn shop in the mill or on the Fleece and Harmony website.
*Kim Doherty-Smith, owner of Fleece and Harmony Woollen Mill.
Resources
Kim Doherty-Smith (she/her) became a shepherdess and mill owner when she escaped to the farm after a career in the corporate world. Kim is a multi-crafter who mostly knits, crochets, and sprinkles in a bit of handspinning.