Carefully handled fibres custom spun in our mill in Co. Cavan.

 

Our process from fleece to yarn is completed using a fully operational mill.

 

 

Mill Photo of Yarn

Working in Mill

Carding Fibres

Small is good, individual is good.

 

We just love that we have full control over the process from choosing the fibre, dyeing, processing and all the miniscule bits that go into deciding our final yarns is completely up to us. From start to finish, our process is hands on and immersive.

Our colour, dyeing and blending process has followed on naturally from our hand dyed yarn practice. What makes up a single colour of our mill yarn, is actually several colours carefully considered and then hand dyed, and cleverly blended together at both our carder and our drawframe. We strive to create captivating colours, celebrating subtleties, drawing inspiration from our surroundings, our heritage. 

 

Our Process.

 

Olann Mills is a semi-worsted mill. We create and spin a range of sustainably sourced yarns including Alpaca, Merino, Dorset, Galway, and other rare breeds.

 

Fleece

Bobbins

The art of making.

To begin the process we firstly assess the fibre; we look for quality, staple length and cleanliness of it. We have a very gentle washing facility which uses an organic soap to remove lanolin oil from sheep fibre and dust from alpaca fibre.

Once the fibre is dried and loose vegetable matter removed, we pick the fibre and prepare it for carding. From here we are able to process it in numerous ways, from batts to roving for hand spinners or felt makers, or spun into yarn which can be finished onto a cone, into a ball or skein. The beautiful fibre can be used for knitting, weaving and other crafting projects.

 

 

 

 

Olann cone of yarn