Firefly Fields - Fiber

Firefly Fields -- Finn Roving

What is roving?

Where does the wool come from?

What colors are available?

What is Roving?

Roving is wool that has already been washed and carded. It is perfect for those who just want to sit down and spin. Finn roving is suitable for handspinners of all ability levels, even beginners. Some people feel that it practically spins itself. It can also be used for all types of felting (wet, needle, and fulling) as Finn in one of the best felting wools.

Carding can be done in a few different ways. It can be done on hand cards, which look like giant dog slicker brushes. It can be done on a drum carder, a hand cranked machine about the size of a bread box. Or it can be done on a commercial carding machine, which can vary in size from the size of your kitchen counter to the size of a small car. In all of these methods, the fibers are arranged using a cloth or belt which has many tiny teeth on it. When the wool is removed, the fibers are all tidied up, but somewhat mixed together and fluffed up a bit to give loftiness to the fiber. This makes roving easier to spin than top, which is combed (rather than carded), with all the fibers perfectly parallel. (Top is more slippery and generally harder to spin especially if you are a beginner.)

Where does the wool come from?

All the wool roving we have for sale, as well as the wool in the wool/silk blend, is 100% Finn wool from our flock. Finn is a medium wool ranging from 24 to 31 microns. What makes it unique is its characteristic luster and soft hand.

This wool is from the same sheep that produce our hand-spinning fleeces. Some of it is made from the wool outside the jackets, such as neck wool which is often the finest and softest part of the whole fleece. It also includes partial fleeces from under the jackets. Some of our fleeces are very nice wool, but not uniform enough to be sold as a jacketed handspinning fleece that year. The best parts of those fleeces are put into our roving also.

Washing the wool, as well as carding, helps to remove chaff, bits of hay and grass, from the wool. Sometimes there are still a few tiny bits left, but these usually fall out during the spinning process. Sometimes you may need to pick out a few bits as you go. Every effort is made to produce very clean roving, both on our farm and at the mill. Remember that this is a natural product, made from the coat of real animals that live outdoors.

This is the second time we have used Wooly Knob Fiber Mill to process our roving. Read about my trip to the mill. Click your brower's BACK button to return here.

Available Colors

All of these different colors of roving are made of blends of natural colored wool. They can used "as is" or can be dyed after spinning. Even colored wool can be overdyed (such as with indigo) to give a beautiful color-washed effect.

I love the natural colors and feel they are very flattering to the complexion. Perhaps it is the depth of color that natural colored wools afford.

All these photographs were taken in natural sunlight to try to show the colors as accurately as possible.

Click on the small photos for a larger view.

Finn / Silk Blend
Color: Natural White
Price: $ 2.20 per ounce

Get out your sunglasses! Finn wool is lusterous on its own and this Finn/Silk blend absolutely shimmers! This is slightly more slippery than the regular Finn wool, so maybe a little trickier to spin for a beginner. I am guessing this Finn/Silk blend will not felt well because of the silk.

100% Finn Wool
Color: Natural White
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

Creamy, natural white - ready for you to spin and dye or just spin up an use as is.

100% Finn Wool
Color: Striped
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

This roving is natural black and natural white carded side by side to give a striped, rag wool effect when spun. I love the woodsy natural look that this provides.

100% Finn Wool
Color: Heathered Grey
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

This roving is natural white and natural black blended together.

100% Finn Wool
Color: Taupe
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

This roving is natural white and natural brown blended together (I think).
I don't have as much of this color as the others. back to top

100% Finn Wool
Color: Frosty
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

This roving is natural white with a sliver of grey running through it.
It is much prettier than in the photograph.

100% Finn Wool
Color: Natural Black
Price: $ 2.00 per ounce

This roving is natural black made from black sheep. No dyes have been used. It has a lot of depth of color as most black sheep have a few grey and brown fibers mixed in with the black.

Our "No Drama" Returns Policy

We want you to be thrilled with your purchase. We make every effort to provide a quality product and to provide an honest description of it. When you receive your purchase, please remove it from its box and bag and thoroughly examine it. If for some reason, you have made a firm decision that you are not satisfied with your purchase, please email us. Then box it back up and mail it back. When your return is received, you will receive a full refund.

Last update: September 30, 2008