From Shearing to Skein: The Main Steps
When you hold a perfectly finished ball of yarn in your hands, ready for your next project, it's easy to forget the sometimes long and meticulous journey it took to get there. Between the sheep in its pasture and the skein on the shelf of your favorite shop, the fiber goes through a true chain of transformation, where each step prepares the ground for the next.
It all starts with shearing, usually done once a year. This raw fleece, still laden with natural grease (lanolin), dirt, and vegetable matter, must then be washed—a step also known as scouring, where impurities are removed while preserving the integrity of the fiber. Next comes carding or combing, depending on the type of yarn desired: these processes untangle, align, and prepare the fibers into a continuous ribbon, ready for the next step.
For yarn intended for the worsted process, an additional step is added: drawing, which further aligns the fibers and removes the shorter ones. Finally, comes the actual spinning, where the fiber ribbon is transformed into yarn through twisting—the same twist we discussed earlier, which harnesses the natural elastic memory of keratin. Depending on the desired final product, the yarn can then be dyed, before being put into skeins or balls.
What truly distinguishes an artisanal mill like Makeloo Studio is that this complete chain—from opening to spinning, including dyeing and felting—takes place under one roof, in Lavaltrie. Most wool producers in Quebec must send their fleece outside the province, sometimes as far as Western Canada, to have their fiber processed, which leads to delays that can reach 6 to 18 months. By integrating all these steps locally, we eliminate this dependency and give our partner farms quick and transparent access to the processing of their own raw material.
For you, as an artisan, understanding this complete chain also allows you to better appreciate the true value of a well-made skein: each step requires time, expertise, and attention, and it is this accumulation of care that ultimately ends up between your fingers.
Source: International Wool Textile Organisation, Wool Notes, Issue 3 (2024).