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Tag Archive for: non-mulesed

Posts

Merino FlockGreat Ocean Road Woollen Mill

Our Fibre: Natural, non-mulesed, local

June 25, 2020/in Uncategorized /by GORWM

We get a lot of comments from wonderful people who love our yarns and can’t believe how soft and real they feel.  The biggest reason they feel like they do is simply down to the animals that spend all year growing that glorious fibre. (Our merino, alpaca and polwarth)

Obviously, I would love to take all of the credit: it must be my processing, the minimalistic approach, my spinning and skeining, but really, it all begins in the paddock with each and every animal. The minimalistic processing just lets the fibre show off all of its wonderful attributes and glory!

Isabel and I believe strongly in sustainability. Wool and alpaca are about as sustainable as you can get! It is natural, it is biodegradable and can be processed without harsh chemicals. We have about 35 of our own alpacas which we use in our yarns and knitwear and when it comes to sourcing additional fibre we want to take that sustainable approach to where we source our fibre from. So, for us local is great, the closer to the mill the better and we buy from farmers who care greatly (like us) about their animals.

Alpaca:

All of our alpaca comes from Victoria! All of our huacaya alpaca fibre actually comes from Western Victoria, no more than 100km from the mill. We regularly catch up with the alpaca farmers and know that they care for their animals and treat them kindly, gently and with respect. The fibre is then 100% processed on site by us!

Wool (non-mulesed):

Like our alpaca, the wool we buy is all from Victoria. In fact, we deal with a wool broker 30kms away to find the exact wool that we are looking for.

This year we have had to find a new merino farmer and Isabel and I have made the choice to go non-mulesed. Mulesing is a practice the merino farmers have used to prevent fly strike ( a particularly horrible thing). It can be done in a few different ways, using pain relief, no pain relief, freeze drying but at the end of the day we believe that it is better to breed sheep who don’t need this form of treatment to be done to them. That is why we buy certified “non-mulesed” fibre to ensure the sheep are not put through this stressful treatment.

The Polwarth wool we use is naturally non-mulesed so it doesn’t have that issue to begin with and in a few decades maybe all merino will be like this too.

Our sheep wool is scoured by a local company in Geelong, meeting strict Australian EPA regulations. It is only scoured (not carbonised) then sent to us (125km away) for processing.

Cotton:

Our cotton is 100% Australian. We know it uses a lot of water and can be a bit contentious, but isn’t it better to process it in Australia? Did you know that no other cotton is commercially processed in this country? Sad, but true.

Linen:

Australia doesn’t grow any linen (flax) for spinning so this is our only fibre that doesn’t come from around the corner, but rather from Europe. If we did, we would!

 

I hope this helps to give a little bit of an insight into our fibre and why we use what we use and why we are so passionate about sustainable. Shipping fibre around the world to get it processed at a cheaper rate isn’t sustainable, it doesn’t support Australian manufacturing, nor is it environmentally friendly.  Next time you buy a yarn, a sweater or anything that is knitted ask, is the fibre all natural? Is the fibre from happy animals? Has the fibre travelled the world to be processed? Has it been processed meeting Australian EPA standards?

There are so many different aspects involved along the way, and areas where we as a mill, but also you as an individual, can make a difference.

By asking questions you can make informed choices, you can help ensure animals are happy, healthy and respected. You can help support Australian businesses all along the supply chain.

Thanks for reading and I will be back soon with more about what we do and how we do it!

 

 

https://gorwm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/1-thats-the-one-a-flock-of-sheep-1.jpg 602 800 GORWM https://gorwm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Great-Ocean-Road-Woollen-Mill-Logo.png GORWM2020-06-25 16:36:002020-06-25 16:36:00Our Fibre: Natural, non-mulesed, local

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  • YarnsOur Yarns: Sustainable, Luxurious.January 30, 2020 - 3:39 pm
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Sunday knitting 🧶❤️ I was hoping to be a li Sunday knitting 🧶❤️
I was hoping to be a little further with my #testknit , but been a bit busy this week 😉
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But doesn’t the #azami_shawl by @noriko_ichikawa_ look beautiful? 😍Can’t wait to finish it and use it. Perfect weather at the moment ☺️
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Yarn: 4ply 100% alpaca - available on Friday 🧶🧶🧶
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Our new STOLL demo machine has arrived 🥂 We rec Our new STOLL demo machine has arrived 🥂
We recently became Australia’s sales’ agent for STOLL. 🍾
So, if anyone is interested in STOLL flatbed knitting machines get in touch 😊
#stoll #flatbedknitting #commercialknitting #fashion #fashiondesigner #fashiondesign #greatoceanroadwoollenmill
Finally!!! Our dehairer is working again 🥳 It b Finally!!! Our dehairer is working again 🥳 It broke down and we had to wait for a spare part.... and hence we are a slight bit behind our schedule. 
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This machine is used in our alpaca fibre processing. In simple terms: it removes the coarser guard hair (the prickly stuff) from the finer softer fibres and it really makes a difference! . 
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Oh, and it’s Lucina’s fleece (one of my favourite girls) which is going through 😉🦙
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#alpaca #alpacafibre #fibre #processingfibre #yarn #smallbusiness #localbusiness #sustainable #sustainablefashion #ecofriendly #eco #greatoceanroadwoollenmill
Look how great the #nichinichicardigan by @yamagar Look how great the #nichinichicardigan by @yamagara is looking in the Summer Fiesta in the colour oatmeal. 😍
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Repost @ctashc with @get_repost
・・・
Skate Park knitting last night with my faithful friend Alfred.......knitting the beautiful #nichinichicardigan by @yamagara using the @great_ocean_road_mill Summer Fiesta from @handmakecreate ......thank goodness for knitting is all I can say with all  the time I spend watching my son skate!!! #knit #knitting #knittersofaustralia #greatoceanroadwoollenmill #yamagara #yamagaradesigns #knittersofinstagram #knittersofaustralia #nevernotknitting #skateparkknitting #sydneypark #sydneyparkskatepark #yarnstoreowner #onlineyarnstore #handmakecreate
In the middle of plying the single strands for the In the middle of plying the single strands for the La Bella red Marble DK (Australian 8ply) 
I’ll be putting it online tonight 🧶👍
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We’ve just added this beautiful yarn in a finger We’ve just added this beautiful yarn in a fingering weight (4ply Australian) to our La Bella range. 
🧶
It’s called Red Marble and it’s a beautiful blend of white superfine merino 🐑 and brown alpaca 🦙 
#yarn 
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This is my latest project.... it’s a test knit f This is my latest project.... it’s a test knit for the beautiful #azami_shawl by @noriko_ichikawa_ 
It’s got such stunning detail and I can’t wait to use it 😍
#testknit 
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I finished my #teslincowl by @gk.knits Which is n I finished my #teslincowl by @gk.knits 
Which is now available on #ravelry .

It’s got such lovely details using cables,  I-cords etc. ❤️ 
So much fun to knit 🥰
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I used yarn from our soon to be released  Accoyo range. - 100% alpaca . It is so amazing soft, impossible to describe 💕💕💕
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#gk.knits #accoyo #knittersgonnaknit #knitting #knittersofinstagram #knit #stricken #cablelovers #ravelrypattern #strikke #strikk #knittersoftheworld #greatoceanroadwoollenmill
I don’t usually have multiple projects on the go I don’t usually have multiple projects on the go, but when I had an ear burn from @gk.knits on #ravelry about this test knit I just couldn’t resist. 😍
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#testknit #gkknits #knitting #knittingaddict #newproject #funknit #cableknitting #greatoceanroadwoollenmill
Back in stock - yeahhh 🥳 🧶 Our La Bella medi Back in stock - yeahhh 🥳
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Our La Bella medium grey in Fingering (Australian 4ply) and DK (Australian 8ply) 
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We’ve decided to focus on alpaca fibre for the n We’ve decided to focus on alpaca fibre for the next few months. 🦙
In the coming weeks you’ll see a variety of products in huacaya (the fluffy ones) as well as suri (the longer locked ones), in all sorts of different natural colours as well as products ranging from tops (maybe jumpers and cardigans ... 🤔🤭), yarns in different weights and rovings. 
If you are interested where we source our fibre from and learn a bit more about the farmers who supply us... sign up to our newsletter. 😊
We want to celebrate the beautiful animals and their fibre we love so much. 🥰🥰🥰 Maybe join us 😊
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Come for a visit if you are in the area on Saturda Come for a visit if you are in the area on Saturday 6th Feb ☺️
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