WARP Brings Textile Lovers Together in Toronto: Focus on Wool
What is WARP, you may ask? WARP is the acronym for Weave a Real Peace. The premise is that we can make and sustain each other through the love of textiles and the people who make them. I’ve been a member since 2017, when I organized their annual conference in Oaxaca.
I renew, return, and actively participate year after year because this organization cares about supporting textile artisans from around the world. It’s very hands-on, grassroots, and depends on volunteer members to keep the organization running. It is comprised of a mix of people that encourages lively conversation: textile enthusiasts, makers, academics, and students.
It’s always a learning to participate. Because the meeting was held in Toronto and hosted by the Canadian contingent of WARP, there was a natural focus on sheep, wool, wool by-products, yarn, woven and felted goods, fleece, and of course, clothing. It gets COLD in Canada during the winter.
Raising sheep is an important Canadian small farm industry. So are the small mills that process it, and the makers who create from it. Outings included visits to farms. The marketplace showcased only Canadian goods. It was a departure for me to have this targeted experience that brought me into a deeper understanding of our northern friends.
What I learned and what was reinforced:
- Supporting the fiber shed is essential to build sustainability
- A fiber shed supports independent entrepreneurs
- Meaning and value are integral to being informed consumers
- Wool unsuitable for clothing and home goods is a preferred biodegradable mulch (more about this)*
- Committing to regenerative agriculture keeps earth cleaner
- Connects local supply chains for mutual benefit (think farmers, designers, makers, consumers)
- Encourages the continuation of traditional textile knowledge
*What startled me was the concept that unusable wool has a use. I can use it as a weed barrier instead of that horrible black plastic landscape fabric that shreds after time and is scattered by the wind to pollute. It never goes away. It just disappears into the landscape rather than being consumed back into the soil.
When I got home from the conference, a couple of my wool dryer balls were starting to unravel. I helped them along and then put them around two struggling rosa rugosas (a hardy heritage rose originally from Japan). They are now blooming. I’m also collecting dryer lint to supplement the mulching. Old wool sweaters and scarves full of holes do the trick, too.
It’s dry here in New Mexico. The wind is ferocious. Water is scarce. Wool mulch and landscape fabric work.
This may be just one tidbit I gleaned from attending the meeting. It also brought me together with like-minded men and women who love handmade as much as I do, to share, discuss, and conjure up notions of new ways to support fiber artists and textile makers around the world.
Here are some resources for where you can buy wool to use for your garden projects. You can also search online for where to buy waste wool for garden mulch, and contact a local fiber mill to see if they sell wool waste.
The Arcadia Project (YouTube)
And, think about joining WARP. It’s one of my key textile connections to the world.
On Friday, August 21, 2026, I’ll be participating at a WARP Pop-Up Sale at Fiber Arts on 4th, 6463 4th Street NW, Los Ranchos (Albuquerque), NM 87107, and talking about Threads Afar and connecting with fiber artisans around the world.
