We are two sisters, Joleen and Janell, who grew up in a rural, western community.  We spent much of our time growing up horseback; whether it was rodeoing on the weekends, working cattle, or just going for a ride. That western lifestyle carried over as we grew up.

 

About 5 years ago, Janell started braiding cinches. After buying cord to braid more cinches, she decided that it might be better to “grow her own”. She called her older sister, Joleen, who was quite crafty in her own right and told her the plan.  To which Joleen responded, “yeah, right,” but agreed to accompany Janell and her husband to go look at some Navajo-Churro sheep that were for sale in the next town over.  Little she did realize they would come home with the start of their herd and embark on a wonderful journey into the world of fiber.

 

Once the small herd of Navajo-Churro were situated in their new corrals, we quickly realized we’d better get to learning about the breed, how to shear, how to process the fleece and how to spin that fleece into yarn.  Thank goodness for the Internet and YouTube.  We, along with our long-suffering husbands,  quickly decided that we were better off hiring someone else to shear, and learned how to skirt a fleece so we could wash, dry, card and spin the fleece into something we could use..  As our herd grew, we realized that the washing, drying and carding would be better done elsewhere as well. Luckily we had just gone to our first fiber festival at Grazing HIlls as spectators and met Daniel of Willow Creek Fiber Mill.  He has been instrumental in turning our fleeces into roving for us.

 

We added some Angora goats to our herd, with Rosie the llama,  as well as a couple of Baby Dolls (those 3 were a total impulse buy on Joleen’s part) We have also added some Romeldale for the grandkids to show in 4-H.

 

We named our fiber business,  Westwynd in honor of our mother who was always on board with our hare-brained schemes and loved to craft right along with us.  While we are now offering our Navajo-Churro and Mohair roving for sale, we are also spinning our own yarn to weave saddle blankets and well as making pulled wool saddle blankets.  Janell is still braiding cinches, and we are still learning and fine tuning our skills as shepherds, spinners and weavers.