From Farm to Yarn: A Community Initiative
The ‘Collingwool’ Project began when the Collingwood Children’s Farm offered the Collingwood Branch of the CWA dozens of old fleeces stored in the barn at Collingwood Children’s Farm. What started as a simple idea to make use of wool from the farm’s sheep has grown into a beloved community initiative that brings together sustainability, craftsmanship, and friendship.
How It All Started
When Gayann moved to Melbourne and joined our branch, she brought with her a passion for natural fibres and sustainable practices. During meetings held at Collingwood Children’s Farm, she learnt about the wool from the farm’s flock of Shropshire and English Leicester sheep that was being stored unused.
Her proposal was straightforward: process the fleeces into yarn that could be used for branch projects, with items sold at our stalls or farmer’s markets to support local causes.
Community Support
The City of Yarra embraced the idea, awarding our branch a $1,000 Community Projects Grant in 2020-21 to cover the commercial spinning costs. The City of Yarra has continued to generously re-fund the project since then which is enabling wider reach of Collingwool and wool products to communities in need.
The Challenge of Preparation
Processing raw fleeces by hand is time-consuming work. Each handful takes about 10 minutes to clean, removing vegetative matter and preparing the wool for spinning. With at least 6kg needed before a mill could begin processing, it was clear this would be a significant undertaking.
Saturday Morning Magic
What could have been a tedious chore became something special. Every Saturday morning (when Melbourne wasn’t in lockdown), CWA members gathered at the Collingwood Children’s Farm farmhouse for ‘comb, cake and chat’ sessions.
With tea flowing and someone always bringing fresh scones, biscuits, or cake, the slow work of cleaning fleeces became a cherished social activity. When in-person meetings weren’t possible, members took fleeces home to work on while watching television or listening to podcasts.
Results and Future Plans
After 6 months of dedicated work, we processed 6.080kg of wool by hand—just enough for the mill’s minimum requirement. With 140kg of fleeces remaining, we secured additional council funding to have the rest commercially processed.
We partnered with E.P. Robinsons for scouring, Cashmere Connections for combing and Fibre Naturally for spinning to process the fleece into yarn which we called “Collingwool”.
The resulting product is a unique semi-worsted 8-ply yarn in natural cream colours. This rustic, undyed yarn perfectly suits the character of wool from the farm’s hardy breeds.
The yarn is processed entirely within Victoria.
What We’re Doing Now
The Collingwool Project continues to grow. We use the yarn for:
- Direct sales of skeins and handcrafted items to the community at stalls, with proceeds supporting local charities
- Educational workshops teaching dyeing, hand spinning, knitting, and crochet techniques
- Community building through shared crafting experiences
- Creating wool products that we use to support people in need
Join Us
The Collingwool Project embodies everything our branch values: sustainability, community connection, skill-sharing, and supporting local causes. Whether you’re an experienced crafter or just beginning your journey with natural fibres, there’s a place for you in this ongoing story of fleece, friendship, and community spirit.
Collingwood CWA 