Most likely for the rest of my life I will live here in Brookings on the Southern Oregon Coast. Surrounded by the animals that produce the fiber I am so obsessed with. I can see the ocean and the hills and valleys from here and actually it is hard to get me to go anywhere as this surely must be paradise. Except for the poop shoveling and some of the other icky jobs connected with sheep raising!

I am originally from England. In 1952 a long time ago I was born Linda Mary Jennings. Then I married in 1972 and became Linda Mary Thomas. 5 children and a divorce later I remarried and became Linda Mary Stimson. I am a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, a wife and a friend and now a sheepherder. I have a lot of sheep and a lot of llamas and chickens to mention the main animal population here.

I got llamas because I was afraid of horses. Who would know that llamas and their fiber would be the spring board for me to learn to spin and weave and take up knitting again after about 30 years! But my love now is sheep. I tried goats of different varieties and have settled on sheep. But sheep come in many flavors. I don't have enough time or money to own all the sheep I would like to! And I am working on spending more time weaving and spinning this wonderful renewable resource called wool.

I usually have sheep for sale, fleeces and pelts. I am also raising Heritage Turkeys and lamb for the table. Oh and eggs from the free range chickens.


Welcome to Connected by a Thread and I hope you will visit a while and maybe we will see you at one of our venues.

Hello, I am Lynette and currently live in Crescent City California. I started Fernwood Woolworks after obtaining a 1903 LeGare Circular Sock Machine. I've knit socks by hand for years and was intrigued when a friend showed me a circular sock machine. It never occured to me that there was a way to knit socks other than by hand in the early 1900's. This piqued my interest and as I traveled through the history of knitting in America I discovered just how important these little known machines were to women during WWI. The American Red Cross purchased these machines and made them available to women to come and 'Knit for Sammy' as they made socks and clothing for the soldiers. This massive volunteer effort continued into WWII as women came forward to fill the gap and donatewarm woolen items for their fighting men.

From this base of knitting and the love of history I formed my business, Fernwood Woolworks. While vending at the Azalea Festival in Brookings, Oregon I met Linda. We found we not only share a love of fiber arts but an interest in the historical value of fiber arts, spinning, socks and weaving. From this humble interest in the sock machine my business has grown to include hand dying self-patterning yarns. I enjoy the process of desigining self-patterning yarns and offer new colorways every season. The yarns are dyed in lots of 10 and usually only repeated 2 or 3 times throughout the year. My inspiration generally comes from my surroundings, the redwood national forest and pacific ocean. My products are available only through this web site and at venues where we vend.

As my business has evolved I've recently renewed an interest I initially aquired when I was a professional quilter and teacher. I was introduced to vintage recycled Kimono fabrics as a embellishment for quilts. As you see in the catalog listings, I am now desiging and selling silk bags which can be used many ways including but not limited to:projects bags for knitting, to hold your roving while using a drop spindle or as a gift bag for that pair of hand knit socks. These 100% silk fabrics are cut from damaged Kimono that are obtained from Japan. When purchasing one of these items, you will aquire your own piece of history.

One thing is for sure, my interests are always changing. Welcome to Connected by a Thread and join in our travels as we share our love of fiber arts. I hope you enjoy your products and please stop back by frequently to see what's new.