Coastal Fleece Processing

Coastal Fleece Processing is woman-owned business serving Vancouver Island. I source fleeces from local farmers and prepare them for hand spinners and felt artists. Scouring and carding service also available.

Explore our unique selection of wool that inspires your craft. From soft, fluffy fleeces to rich colors, we have everything you need to bring your artistic visions to life.

Romey East Freisian Icelandic Bluefaced Leicester Valais Rideau Arcott Texel Suffolk and many crossbreeds!

I recently picked up seven Romney fleeces from a private farm in Cobble Hill. They are big and gorgeous, and the sheep have names like "Frappe", "Latte", and "Chai". I'm told that Latte is the loudest and also the most friendly.

So far I have only scoured Latte's fleece and WOW she is a beauty. I can't wait to see what she looks like all dyed up and spun.

#VancouverIslandWool

My first market! I will have several different wool breeds from Vancouver Island including: Romney, Shetland, East Friesian, Suffolk, Texel, Rideau Arcott, Bluefaced Leicester, Cheviot, Valais/Romney, Suri Alpaca, BFL/Icelandic, and a couple of others. I will have them at different stages of processing, from raw to dyed wool bats. I will also have the Island Fibre passport from @vanislefibreshed for sale, as well as the stickers to go with the purebred wool listed within it.

I'm excited to join the community of fibre vendors on Vancouver Island!

#VancouverIslandWool

On the left is Rideau Arcott, on the right is the softest, fluffiest Romney I have ever handled. These babies will make their debut at the Entwined market in July!
#VancouverIslandWool

Trying so hard to find the light that can do this colour justice. At 100 Mile in May, I bought this pretty braid if Corriedale from @jillsfibres . I spun it up and piled it with some Rideau Arcott from StoneCroft Farm. The greens range from a lime to a deep forest and it's SO pretty. I don't know yet what this will be, but at the moment it's giving "hat and mitts".

#VancouverIslandWool

My director asked me what kind of a sendoff I would like, and I asked for a "fruity sheep cake". He pulled in @viubaking and they made the most beautiful and perfect cake. Thank you to Aron and his students, and thanks to my coworkers for such a lovely little party. I still have one more week to go, and this kicks off the solstice weekend perfectly! 😊

#sheep #cake

That moment when you bid farewell to a part of you that's been there through the darkest part of your life. It's true what they say when women change their hair and how it signals a dramatic shift. My life has already changed so much this year, with much more to come.

And yes I did tie my hair in a ponytail, hold a mirror and one hand and hacked the ponytail off with tiny scissors in my other hand. I now have a cute bob and I love it!

We had 9 participants and three helpers in the Joy of Processing workshop. Liz HK imparted so much knowledge with us and we were all sponges. Day one was about different fleece types and why they need different treatment. We scoured, rinsed, spun-dried and then laid the fleeces out on racks. It was 31⁰C so the wool dried very quickly. We got out the scales and divided the fibre up so that everyone (twelve of us) could do our homework of teasing the wool (and alpaca) apart and picking out the VM. In all, we had: one alpaca, a winter and summer coat of the same Icelandic sheep, a Romney, and a Shropshire fleece.

@vanislefibreshed

I recently acquired some Rideau Arcott fleeces from Stonecroft farm in Black Creek. When we were preparing for this workshop, Liz decided we should also try the suint fermentation method to see what happens. I have been building an inventory of fleeces for my soon to be launched business, and Liz asked me to bring my dirtiest fleece to try this method with. It was this one.

When Liz opened the bucket, it wasn't a knock-you-over smell, but it was definitely stinky. From other stories I had seen, I was expecting the wool to be pearly white. After the other fleeces were scoured, I did put this one in one of the bath water (power scour I think) and then a rinse and it was way cleaner.

@vanislefibreshed

Tremendously fun day yesterday as the Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers Guild put on a workshop called the Joy of Processing. Led by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, we had several different fleece types and we experimented with different scouring agents including Dawn dish soap, Unicorn power scour, and Orvus Paste.

This was day 1 of 2, hosted by guild member Janine, whose home was perfectly set up for such an event.

Liz showered praise on the @vanislefibreshed and the farms where the fleeces came from including Gun Barrel Canyon farm and Tideview farm. We talked about the Islands Fibre passport that was introduced by the Fibreshed at 100 Mile two weeks ago.

I carded a batt of Rideau Arcott that I got recently and wondered how long it would take for Kali to sit on it if I put it on the floor.

I didn't even have time to start a timer 😂

#Caturday #VancouverIslandWool #brotherdrumcarder

Look at my baby girl Kali and her majestic belly! 😍 #Caturday

I don't think my camera does this color Justice, but I think this is gorgeous. One of my Guild ladies was giving away a bunch of her acid dyes and with almost all of them the labels are unreadable so it's a surprise every time. This is some of the East Friesian cross that I got from Parry Bay in January. I was thinking about blending this with another fleece type, but I love this color on its own. #VancouverIslandWool #fleece #dye

Thanks to Mara at @fern.and.roe for sharing this photo from the weekend before last. I had an amazing time at the sheepskin tanning workshop on the Saanich Peninsula.

It was a very nice dark blue but a little too oppressive for me in my soft girl life. Three coats of primer. I have a bit of touching up to do and then I can finally start hanging things on the walls!

In honour of my favourite Norwegian holiday, #suttendemai I have made a fluffy apple pancake from my favourite cookbook, Breakfast with Beatrice. I only lament I don't have any aquavit to put in my coffee! 🇮🇸🥞☕

This is my manager, Kali. She decides when I wake up by meowing loudly in my ear while standing on my shoulder. She also decides when it's time for me to go to bed. Mostly, it's a good arrangement. But with daylight coming earlier, the alarm cat goes off quite early.

I had to pry these off with a blade because the previous owner (a professional painter??) painted around the plates instead of removing them. The laziness!

However, I discovered the blue paint will come off with nail polish remover.

It may not look like much, but finding this in my cupboard made me immeasurably happy.

This is plum chutney that I probably canned in 2021 or 2022. When I still lived in Utah. When I was still married. Before I even knew I was getting divorced.

I left Utah in 2023 and I didn't take much with me, but what I did take was a bunch of my home canning. I grew most of the things that are in this jar. I think this is the last jar of the plum chutney that I made probably 5 years ago. I'm so excited to eat this right now.

Day three of the sheepskin workshop. The hides were dry, so we spent most of the day combing out the wool. This actually took a really long time for me - I probably spent at least three hours doing it. There was some vegetable matter, some dirt on the remaining lanolin, and a few dead bugs. We will spend most of the day tomorrow combing as well.

The other big thing today was smoking the hides. Two were clipped together with binder clips all the way around. A cloth funnel (cut off pant leg) directed the smoke from the smoker to inside the hides. We set a timer for 15 minutes. Punk wood was used for the smoker - which basically means rotting wood.

We have all been very tired at the end of the day and a couple people even fell asleep while we were working on combing this afternoon.

It's been such a fun experience! I'm so glad I was able to take this workshop, I understand a lot more about the process and about wool now.

Day 1 of the sheep hide tanning workshop at @fern.and.roe . Sixteen participants, some from as far away as Arkansas. We are being supervised by the sheep.

I went to two farms yesterday on a wool buying mission. I didn't take a lot of photos but I did come home with 9kg of BFL, 3kg of Cheviot-ish, and 17 pounds of BFL/Icelandic cross. Time to get scouring.

I'm getting to know sheep farmers on Vancouver Island through the @vanislefibreshed and through @interislandsheepbreeders . I'm enjoying the process of building relationships with farmers and seeing the farms.

I'm planning to get a website built this month for my scouring business, and I will be a vendor at three upcoming markets selling wool bats ready for hand spinners.

@tsolumriverranch @willowrowfarm

This light doesn't quite do it justice, but this is a red cabbage soup with creme, fraiche and Dill. It's beautiful!

Happy #caturday here is Kali lounging next to the sweater I am knitting with handspun from a sheep named Violet. We have been in our new home for a week now and she is settling in nicely 🙂

I can't be the only one who sees these fencing panels at Home Depot and thinks thinks wow that would make a good skirting table with the right hardware cloth and some legs. 🤣

Ok yes I just moved yesterday and I have already been to two sheep farms in the Valley.

She did pretty good in the car on the 40 minute drive to Duncan. Kali will spend the night with friends. I will pick her up tomorrow and bring her to our new home after the movers are gone.

I am knitting a sweater for the farmer whose sheep this wool came from. Kali is blessing it by cutely sleeping in a loaf on it.

#GenestaFarm #handspun

Kali is *so* happy when it's warm enough to sit outside on her chair in the sun.

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@iheartyarnsalad

I am YarnSalad, also known as Stacey Slager. I have been knitting since 2003 and have had a wool collection ever since. I returned to Vancouver Island in 2023 after living abroad for many years. Through the Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers Guild, I re-learned how to spin, learned how to process fleeces, started dyeing wool... and I just never want to stop. It's too much fun. Not long after joining the Guild, I also joined the Vancouver Island Fibreshed, where I attended sheep shearings and learned just how much of the wool on Vancouver Island goes to waste. I'm all about diverting things from landfills and burn piles.

After decades of trying many different jobs and acquiring post-secondary education credentials, I realized that it was time to be my own boss. So I left a regular weekday desk job and now work with wool on my schedule. Kali, my shop cat, makes sure I wake up early to get my work done.

I'm excited to share with all the crafters and fibre enthusiasts everything I have learned about sheep and wool on Vancouver Island (and surrounding Islands), and help educate the broader public about the wool industry in Canada. At this time, I am only sourcing wool from Vancouver Island. I love meeting farmers and building relationships with them and their sheep.

My Wool Story

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I order wool?

For now, I'll only be doing market sales:

Entwined Market, Langford, July 18th
Cobble Hill Fair, Cobble Hill, August 22nd
Cowichan Fleece and Fibre, October 17th, Duncan

After that I will launch online sales.

What types of wool do you offer?

I currently have a variety of wool types, including Romey, East Freisian, Bluefaced Leicester, Valais/Romney, Icelandic, Rideau Arcott, BFL/Icelandic and more, catering to diverse crafting needs and preferences. I'm always looking for more and seeing what the people want!

Can I request custom fleece processing?

Absolutely! We welcome custom fleece processing requests tailored to your specific project requirements. Reach out to us to discuss your needs and ideas. Pricing is by weight, fleece type and effort. A 50% deposit is required.

Can you make yarn?

I am not set up for spinning wool into yarn. For that I recommend:

learning to spin!
sending your wool to a yarn mill (such as Custom, or That Darn Yarn)