• North Ronaldsay Fibre processing mill

About Us

A Yarn From North Ronaldsay Ltd is a small business based on the island of North Ronaldsay, Orkney whose main aim is to process and promote the fibre from the island's rare breed of seaweed eating sheep. We offer a wide range of natural high quality yarns, batts, rovings, and felt. Colours range from white through various shades of grey and brown to black, also colours can be mixed to produce variegated yarns. The facilities at the Mill gives us not only the opportunity of processing our own native fibre but also that of our customers, especially those who are unable to process small quantities.

Our Services

North Ronaldsay Yarn started off as a community based project under the auspices of the community council. Then in 1996 it became established as a company. The original idea was to buy the fleeces from the growers at a higher rate than was being paid by the wool board to put some value back in the fleeces and send it south for spinning. The yarn was then returned and mainly sold locally as wool or knitted garments. In 1999 a sheep conference was held on the island as part of the science festival. At the conference one of the delegates first sowed the seeds of spinning our own yarn on the island with a mini mill supplied by a Canadian Company. As it became increasingly more difficult to find large mills prepared to do small runs of fleece we then looked more seriously at the idea of spinning our own fleece.

The Process

On receiving the Fleeces they are first sorted, graded, skirted and washed. After being washed and dried the fibre goes through the Picking Machine where it is opened and conditioning oil is sprayed over it to protect the fibres during further processes. In the next processing stage, the coarser fibres are removed as it goes through the dehairer. Next stage is the carder where the fibre is combed out and made into rovings or batts. It is now ready for hand spinners or felters. For further processing in the mill, the drawframe is the next stage. 2 or 3 bins of rovings goes through this machine at a time being stretched and further re-aligned before spinning. The wool is spun into singles on the 8 spindle spinner and then plied on the 4 spindle spinner. The twist is set on the steamer before going on to cones or into hanks. The felt machine makes sheets of felt approx. 36'' x 48'' in various thicknesses.