Wool be Good at Ochtertyre Farm NZ

Wool be Good at Ochtertyre Farm NZ Shepherdess of a happy flock of sheep. This page is a place to share updates and products as they become available for sale.

We have Corriedales and crossbred Corriedales in a wonderful range of colours thanks to our Corriedale Ram Cassanova and our ewes.

September is always a busy month for our sheep; shearing, innoculations, de-worming, hoof trimming again! Gordon is an e...
08/10/2026

September is always a busy month for our sheep; shearing, innoculations, de-worming, hoof trimming again! Gordon is an expert and I pass the equipment!

I have had visitors from the USA. It was lovely to meet a new, young spinner and she loved our wool and chose 3 colours. More recently, a lovely couple from Mississipi on a holiday here, chose to visit us as a small enterprise of interest. They loved meeting the animals and tried a little spinning and saw the pegloom in action. I wish I had had more time to ask them more about Mississipi!

October has been the time for lambing. On Tuesday evening beautiful triplets were born to Dottie, a Coopworth ewe x with corriedale ram, Cassanova. They are very pretty. They started out in coats for the first cold night, but the coats are off today. The ewe and the 3 young ones are happy and confident to be around people. Dottie is an excellent Mum and has had triplets before.

I finished my coffee cup coaster weaving and tied the warp using 4 threads per knot. I learnt a few new things and hope I will improve in accuracy and tidiness next time!

I'm back on the tapestry loom, working on the third coffee coaster. My tapestry weaving to date has been on a frame loom...
02/09/2026

I'm back on the tapestry loom, working on the third coffee coaster. My tapestry weaving to date has been on a frame loom. This loom has ability to open the two warp sheds seperately i.e. lift all the 1 warp threads, then all the 2 warp threads in the other direction. It is basically a vertical rigid heddle loom. The heddle is also a be**er. The techniques of tapestry weaving are executed slightly differently, but the weaving is quicker. It has been interesting to work out these adjustments as I go.

02/09/2026

Morning feed time is a routine the sheep and I love!

Beautiful, sunny morning here! The sheep waiting for breakfast and tucking in to sheep nuts and chaff this morning.I fin...
23/08/2026

Beautiful, sunny morning here! The sheep waiting for breakfast and tucking in to sheep nuts and chaff this morning.I finished my "seascape" weaving on the pegloom last night. Photos are taken last night and this morning. You can see the sheep colours in the weaving. I will take it off the loom and tie it off today.

I have been gradually working through a few projects. I tried using washed, carded, white wool from our sheep Pixie to w...
15/08/2026

I have been gradually working through a few projects. I tried using washed, carded, white wool from our sheep Pixie to weave on the middle row of my pegloom. The shorter distance between the pegs worked out well for the width of the wool. I also had a try at using value of colour graduations by dyeing to get gradually lighter colours. I am also trying to use lines of colour to suggest the sea and then the beach! I am thinking the next bit through! I bought some lovely sea themed material to finish with a sewn border. I hope this works out as I will have to cut it on the cross.I am aiming to make a cot quilt for our first grandchild, Alice.
I finished the second of the woven tapestry coasters which is a couple of line techniques. I finished plying a ball of Teddy's wool, so I can get on with my knitting. The colour came out as grey in the photo, but is in fact a lovely milk chocolate brown!

The sheep have been getting through the last part of Winter eating a sheep nuts and chaff mix every morning, grazing the grass left after the frosts, and helping themselves to ad lib hay!

Silver Ghost's wool has sold out and I was very happy to get lovely photos from Kat Walsh with feedback. She describes ...
24/07/2026

Silver Ghost's wool has sold out and I was very happy to get lovely photos from Kat Walsh with feedback. She describes herself as brand new to spinning and says Silver Ghost's was the nicest wool she has spun so far! I think Kat has done very well! You are well on your way on your Spinning Journey Kat!

Wild weather this week. I took an atmospheric photo. The sheep have been supplemented with hay, sheep nuts and chaff. St...
09/07/2026

Wild weather this week. I took an atmospheric photo. The sheep have been supplemented with hay, sheep nuts and chaff. Still grass around though! You can wool around my pruned roses in the foreground!

I used the warping board and have the warp ready for dressing the floor loom now. I also started a set of tapestry coasters using an Ashford tapestry loom. I used leftover blue and red wool and a ball of Silver Ghost's wool I spun some time ago.

I washed, dried and trimmed the peg loom mat by folding it and placing it in my laundry sink. I washed following the met...
29/06/2026

I washed, dried and trimmed the peg loom mat by folding it and placing it in my laundry sink. I washed following the method I use for washing raw wool. 3 min. Soak at 70 +'degrees. I add a kettle of boiled water to my tap hot water. Also add 2 or 3 caps of laundry soap. I use Persil Sensitive. Then rinse 3x using hot water again and more kettle water if more lanolin is present. I then dry it on a folded laundry rack placed over the bath with a dehumidifier on. The next day it is dry enough to go in front of the fire or any warm spot in the house. In Summer I would take it outside!

I also placed a peg loom in one photo that we have for sale. It was made using a solid piece of recycled rimu. It is a 4"x2" and the length is 91cm from the first to last peg and 95cm from edge to edge.

There are 3 rows of peg holes and 2 full sets of pegs. The larger sized pegs fit the 2 rows of spacing for thicker fibre e.g raw wool in the wider spacing, carded roving in the narrower spacing. The smaller pegs have spacing suitable for spun wool and other suitable materials.

The peg loom comes with a threader. I threaded 2 examples of commonly available jute and cotton string. The price is $180.

I also have raw skirted fleeces available in a variety of colours at $15 a kg. Fleeces generally weigh around 2kg depending on size.

Please pm me if you are interested in the peg loom or raw wool fibre. Have a great day!

Very cold, wet day here. There is an orange weather warning out for our area, the Bay of Plenty. We brought the sheep up...
24/06/2026

Very cold, wet day here. There is an orange weather warning out for our area, the Bay of Plenty. We brought the sheep up to use the shed and shelter near the house. Photo shows some peeping through the shed door while others prefer to be out with their big, woolly coats. I put on the fire and finished tying the warp ends off on my latest pegloom rug. I still need to wash it and trim the fluffy bits. It looks like a nice,cozy hearth rug!

Gordon and I had a lovely time preparing, packing and setting up our first craft store at our local Creative Fibre Fun D...
07/06/2026

Gordon and I had a lovely time preparing, packing and setting up our first craft store at our local Creative Fibre Fun Day. I specially enjoyed meeting and talking to woolcrafters from other nearby towns and our own club. Many had brought their spinning wheels, crochet and knitting. I had lots of questions and comments about the "ye olde" shepherds smock I wore and made 40 years ago! The pegloom weaving also attracted interest. Gordon had also made one from rimu for sale.

We were very well supported and it was a lovely time of enthusiastic talk about wool and sheep! We came home quite a few bags of wool lighter!

There were several other very tempting stores there too. I bought some beautiful hancrafted buttons from Bunny Creates. Contact Angela McDowell AngieMollyMac@ hotmail.com.
Creative Fibre Rotorua once again put on a well- organized day with delicious eats and a large number of lovely raffles, which were greatly appreciated.

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