Spinning is just one area of wool expertise for Ashley Baker who is also selling spinning wheels at her Waipukurau shop.
Spinning is just one area of wool expertise for Ashley Baker who is also selling spinning wheels at her Waipukurau shop.
Omakere's Ashley Baker loves everything about wool, and as of this week she's sharing her passion through her new woolcraft shop on the main street of Waipukurau.
Opened on Monday this week, Lillian Crafts is a one-stop-shop for all things wool and, Ashley is in her element.
Even thoughshe's only 20, her association with wool stretches back to when she was a youngster in primary school entering fleeces in A&P competitions and judging fleeces.
Involved in national judging competitions, at last year's Feilding A and P show she won the merino wool junior judging contest, having earlier been inspired about merino wool while working on a dairy farm in the South Island.
"While I was there I went to a few sheep farms to look at merino wool and get more tips - I liked the merino and got excited and thought this is what I really want to do."
Back home she started thinking about going into business, making use of her own knowledge as well as others in the industry who had supported her along the way, including local coloured sheep breeder Yvonne Monk who is a mentor.
"Fate then stepped in with this awesome shop and it's going to be a bit different from other wool shops," she says.
Some of the wool she stocks comes from the Romney/Corriedale cross sheep on her parents' property at Omakere, a breed that produces a multi-coloured fleece.
"I love the lighter wool for all the colour variations you get from fawn tips to darker brown underneath."
Ashley Baker from Omakere is opening a new woolcraft shop in Waipukurau.
While there will be plenty of natural wool in store, she also dyes her own wool using earth pallet cold dyes, which are gentle and don't damage the fibre.
As well as raw wool from top sheep breeders in Hawke's Bay and Manawatu, the shop stocks sheep wool, acrylic and hand-painted baby alpaca yarn, felted wool, spinning wheels, knitted garments and accessories such as knitting needles, crochet hooks and buttons.
- Lillian Crafts is on Ruataniwha Street between Winloves 100% and the Osaka Sushi House.
