Alex here, hailing you from Romni Downtown's famous basement.
One of our biggest projects this spring has been to (finally!) get our wool rovings, and other fibres for spinning and felting, into our online store. We have always been proud to sell not only yarns, hooks, and needles, but the rovings and tools that fibre artists need to get their spin on, or to manipulate into gorgeous felted sculptures and painterly flat works. (Even the tapestry weaving trend has jumped on board -- we see so many amazing wall hangings on social media now with big, beautiful wool roving popping out in bubbly chunks from the surface, alongside yarns of all thicknesses and textures. Right on!) After focusing almost all of our efforts in getting our gigantic inventory of yarns online for so many months, it's time for the fluffy stuff to take the spotlight.
To see our fibre collection, click here -- it's the Fibre page, which you can also find in our menu, under Shop. There's a lot to choose from! I'll point out to you what I consider some of the highlights.
To start with, take a look at perennial favourite Ashford Corriedale Sliver 100g Pack. This product is always a big hit with felters and spinners alike. A couple of colours can get you started on your own needle felted garden, or menagerie. Or how about carding together two or three shades to whip up a custom heather colour to give your spinning wheel some exercise? We also have a few half-pound bags of the same product in stock, if you need a larger amount!
Maybe you're looking for a little more luxury -- something shiny, perhaps, or something hand-dyed. We can help you treat yourself! We still have some jaw-dropping colours in the 50g Fleece Artist Hand-Dyed Fibre Braids. These come in three different bases -- two wools, Wensleydale (a British longwool) and Merino (needs no introduction); and the supereme lustre of Kid Mohair, sheared from baby Angora goats. Coupled with Fleece Artist's incredible dye-jobs, you cannot go wrong with any of these.
The crown jewel of our fibre collection, however, has got to be our own line of undyed wool top and scoured locks. We've even given it it's own collection page, which you can see here, or find it in our menu; it will be visible under Fibre, and is called Romni's Own Collection. Most of these are breed specific wools, and on each product page we've done our best to "introduce" you to the sheep they've come from, what makes their wool special, and a little historical background information. Those tops that don't come from one specific breed are blends, which will either come from sheep that were all raised in a certain part of the globe, or wools that meet certain criteria (such as organically raised and processed). We are super proud of these wools, and are delighted to be able to pass along some specifics as to where they've come from, and the stories behind the names.
There's more to see on the Fibre pages, of course... and to be honest, we haven't even finished! Stay tuned to our website for more fibres to be added in the next few weeks. We're also planning to become more active with our new TikTok channel in the very near future, and I'm especially looking forward to posting a couple of short video clips specifically geared to those who spin, felt, or are curious to see what it's all about. If you're not on TikTok, that's okay! you'll also be able to see the videos on our Instagram account. Our handle is the same for both: @romniwools.
As I write this, we are about to start the Victoria Day long weekend, so we will wish you all a safe holiday, filled with whatever creativity inspires you.