A fiber artist's patterned life in New Brunswick

At London-Wul, owner Heidi Wulfraat devotes herself to the techniques and traditions of hand spinning. But spinning is only one part of the experience. Wulfraat raises sheep, goats, and rabbits, shears them for their wool, collects plants on her land to produce dye, spins and hand-dyes the wool, and then creates one-of-a-kind designs.

Much of her business comes from selling supplies, among them skeins of colorful hand-dyed wools, hand-turned knitting needles, pattern books, and kits to make your own project.

But this was hardly what she had in mind when she and her husband bought these 140 acres in the mid-1990s. Wulfraat has a degree in animal science, and her flock includes about 60 animals, including 30 angora rabbits, seven angora and cashmere goats, and 17 sheep, including Shetland crosses, Horned Dorset crosses, Lincoln and Romney crosses, and pure Jacob sheep. There are also two dogs and a smattering of geese and chickens.

"Making a living with needlework was nothing you'd know at the time," she says, "but looking back it was there." She grew up in a household steeped in handiwork. "My grandmother supported her children on embroidery at some point, and she lived with us. Even my brothers did some needlepoint."

After college, Wulfraat apprenticed at a textile museum in Dorchester, southeast of here, to learn to spin wool, and continued exploring on her own and with others to learn felting, rug hooking, and lacemaking.

Some of her study partners show up for a weekly "sock walk," taking an evening stroll before they settle down to knit. Another night it's a group of lacemakers working together to make lace patterns out of silk, linen, and wool.