New to the site!

Hello all! I am new to this site but want to expand my engagement with the fiber community! I run a fiber mill out of a 1916 schoolhouse that we remodeled called the NomeSchoolhouse. We have plenty of products that we create for all sorts of fiber arts. Would love to chat about what we offer or anything else that comes to mind! nomeschoolhouse.com

Welcome!

Hope you hang around for a few threads ;-D

Hello and welcome;  there are quite a few fibre-oriented folks here, so we will make you feel at home.

Welcome Dustin. I'd always interested in old machines (we have a local grain mill that I'd love to get working again....)
Tell us about your processes! Do you use only wool or can you handle plant fibres too? Where do you source your fibre? Do you dye it yourselves?

Nancy Reading wrote:Welcome Dustin. I'd always interested in old machines (we have a local grain mill that I'd love to get working again....)
Tell us about your processes! Do you use only wool or can you handle plant fibres too? Where do you source your fibre? Do you dye it yourselves?

We work with animal wool only. We take the product off the animals (we use sheep, alpacas, goat, camel, cat) if its an animal that has fiber we can spin it! Next we was the fiber to get all contaminants out. Then we put it through a carder that aligns all the fiber so we can move onto the next step which is making the roving. Roving is kind of a very non dense airy kind of a product. Great for using for needle felting and making other felting products! Then if we are making yarn with it we move onto the spinning machine that makes it into the final yarn product! Fun stuff!

It does sound fun!
Where do you source your fibre? Do you use local wool? Whereabouts are you based?

One thing I wonder about is the disposal of the water when washing the wool. There can be a lot of grease and dirt in it. How do you dispose of that, or can it be used for something?

Welcome Dustin!
This is a great site!

Nancy Reading wrote:It does sound fun!
Where do you source your fibre? Do you use local wool? Whereabouts are you based?

One thing I wonder about is the disposal of the water when washing the wool. There can be a lot of grease and dirt in it. How do you dispose of that, or can it be used for something?

We try to source our fiber from as local as we can get! We are currently working on remodeling the barn to house some animals (sheep and alpacas). We are located in Nome, ND. Our business is called The Nome Schoolhouse. We are on Facebook, Youtube, Tiktok, and X if you want to check us out! We are in the process of remodeling the barn soon and plan to show progress on our youtube/tiktok channels! To answer your question about the washing of the wool. It is mostly hay and dirt that comes out from the wool so it just gets washed down that drain!