the connecticut blanket

THE WOOL HAS FINALLY LEFT THE STATE!

We finally collected 1609 pounds of wool from last year’s shearing on February 18, 2023 and it is at Chargeurs waiting to be scoured.

So why did we wait until February to collect the 2022 wool? It is a long story but it began with the mill, Wheelock Textiles, that has been producing our blankets for a very long time deciding they could no longer afford the rent that their landlord increased it to and decided to close. We found this out 2 weeks before out scheduled wool collection date and the search began in earnest to find another mill to work with. Our search led us across the country and even to Prince Edward Island in Canada but there were stumbling blocks. The reasons from some of the mills contacted were that we were too large of a project for them, they didn't take consignment work, they wouldn't use just our wool or it would be a mix of ours and theirs, their pricing was too high for us, they didn't make the large sizes and lastly, the cost of shipping the scoured wool to them and then the finished blankets back to us from the other side of the USA was an added expense. So what are we doing with the wool we collected?

Well there is a bright side and a sad side to this year's blanket. Strickland Wheelock worked very hard to find us an alternative mill to work with and he arranged a deal with another mill. The downsides are they are more expensive and they only weave fabric that is wide enough to make Long Throws and Scarves. Yes they could also produce the Throw and Baby sizes from the same fabric but for 2022 we opted to only go with two sizes. The bright side is that other than the trip to South Carolina to be scoured the Connecticut Blanket will be

MADE IN CONNECTICUT AT AMERICAN WOOLEN COMPANY, INC. IN STAFFORD SPRINGS!