Custom Woolen Mills is a small, family owned and operated woolen mill located near Carstairs, Alberta, Canada. Using turn-of-the-century industrial revolution machinery, we have been providing quality woolen and exotic fibre products to our loyal customers for over 35 years. Custom Woolen Mills is still going strong; a hub in the community, a multigenerational family enterprise, and a producer of quality, Canadian grown and manufactured wool products.
wool
Wool is a textile fibre produced by the shearing of sheep. The breed of the sheep, where it was raised, and how the fibre was treated after shearing can all affect the final characteristics of wool. While some is quite harsh and rough, other wool can be luxuriously soft and squishy. As a fibre, wool is very good at trapping heat, and is one of the few fibres that stays warm even when wet.
mulesing free
Mulesing is a controversial farming practice used, predominantly in Australia, to prevent the parasidic infection flystrike. While mulesing prevents infection, it is a very painful procedure for the animal to endure, and more humane alternatives exist. This practice is banned in many areas of the world. If a yarn is marked as mulesing free, that means that no animals were treated this way during the production of the yarn.
๐ about wabi sabi ๐
We are a proudly Canadian, independently-owned, women-run local yarn store based in Ottawa, Ontario. Our focus is on natural fibres and yarns, and we love to help promote and support Canadian producers and makers. Most of our products are of Canadian and European origin, and we do our best to work with distributors at home and abroad to find products that are of excellent quality while also being affordable, sustainable, and responsibly produced.
'wabi sabi'ย is a Japanese aesthetic term which focusses on recognizing and embracing the beauty of the unfinished, the imperfect and the impermanent. There is no English synonym, and we use it with respect for its roots.
our hours
friday
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
saturday
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
sunday
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
monday
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
tuesday
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
wednesday
11:00 am - 5:00 pm
thursday
11:00 am - 7:00 pm
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