Manifesto

We love sheep and we are grateful for wool

Wool, in all its glorious forms, is our medium and our passion. We treasure the diversity of breeds and the wool they produce as the result of thousands of years of collaboration between sheep and shepherds. We honor shepherds by paying a fair price for their wool. We honor sheep by knowing how the animals that grow our wool are cared for. 

We strive to make knitters happy by expanding their choices and making beautiful, well-crafted yarns that they can feel good about

We know that there are a lot of yarns out there, but we also believe that you want more: more sustainable options, more options that support small-scale agriculture and local economies in North America, more options that take advantage of wool's astounding diversity. Our mission is to make these yarns for you.

We think that yarn, like food, should be fresh from the farm and minimally processed

We believe that the best yarns, like the best foods, are the ones that have been touched by the fewest hands and immersed in the fewest chemicals in their journey from farm to needle. 

We know that your projects are unique; we believe your yarn should be too

Let's face it: knitting by hand is a painstaking and laborious process, and everything you knit is highly singular and uniquely yours. Yet most yarns on the market are mass-produced, with unknown ecological consequences, in faraway factories, from materials of opaque origins. 

Just as every hand-knit project reflects the particular taste and technique of the knitter, every Sheepspot yarn reflects the philosophy of an individual shepherd, the well-being of a specific flock, and the history and characteristics of a particular breed. And each bears the mark of the mill that spun it and the hand that dyed it.

We believe that small changes can make a big difference

We're a tiny company with a big dream: to make it as easy for you to learn about the provenance of your yarn—where, how, by whom and of what it is made—as it is to find out whether it's fingering or sport, or how many yards are in the skein. We exist to connect you more closely to the sources of the yarns you use in the craft you love.