About Mary's Little Lambs
My name is Mary and for almost 30 years I have been raising Romney-Merino sheep in the Ozark Hills and creating warm woolies using their wool.
The inspiration of my business started when I was 14 years old someone taught me to knit. In 1994, I could afford to purchase a spinning wheel kit and a couple of sheep. I made the wheel from a kit so I could understand how it worked. I taught myself how to spin wool with the help from a library book and some ladies from a spinning guild. At the same time, I learned how to take care for sheep and which breed to raise.
The area where I moved, sheep were not common, so I had to learn everything on my own from the library and University Extension. After I learned enough about raising sheep and preparing wool (shearing, cleaning, carding, spinning) I started Mary's Little Lambs Products.
After shearing the sheep, I sort and prepare the wool. From there a few things can happen. Sometimes I spin and dye the yarn, knit, and/or weave with the wool myself. Often, in order to provide an even wider variety of warm woolies, I partner with several small mills in the USA to create my products.
Each year I try to incorporate new items into my inventory. I also utilize recycled materials to create one-of-a-kind sweater mittens, as well as weave rugs, scarves and placemats.
All the things I do makes my heart sing and I love what I do. Raising sheep is so fun but there is also a lot of work. I enjoy hard work and being around the flock so the next step was natural to spin the wool and make socks for everyone I know.
You can't have warm woolies without sheep! All the friends have big personalities. And of course you can't forget the sheepdogs! Meet the flock behind it all.
