{"id":490848,"date":"2026-06-23T02:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/490848\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T02:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:47:09","slug":"wairarapa-farmer-turns-wool-into-yarn-and-high-end-tweed-with-mini-mill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/490848\/","title":{"rendered":"Wairarapa farmer turns wool into yarn and high-end tweed with mini mill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the sheep, we\u2019ve got the shearers and, as you\u2019ve seen, we can make wool,\u201d she told RNZ\u2019s Country Life on a tour of the mill.<\/p>\n

The mill is a large, airy, new building, just steps away from the shearing shed, with a viewing window so tour groups can watch the machines in action.<\/p>\n

After much research, Vieno found a firm manufacturing modular systems for artisan fibre-makers, Belfast Mini Mills, based on Prince Edward Island in Canada.<\/p>\n

She said she could even run it by herself if need be, although two people were ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019ve had a good night\u2019s sleep, I can run three machines; so I can run the picker, the fibre separator, and the carder by myself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The $1 million investment has provided locals with employment, including Mel Kiernan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI leapt into the breach when Patrizia had a really outlandishly large idea, and we\u2019ve hit the ground running,\u201d Kiernan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, living rurally, it\u2019s amazing because it\u2019s very difficult to find non-on-farm jobs locally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vieno and Clutton bought Rewa Rewa Station in 2011, after falling in love with it on a trip around New Zealand.<\/p>\n

She is originally from Italy, with a background in interior design, and back in 2023, despite Cyclone Gabrielle damaging parts of the farm, she had hopes of expanding her growing boutique wool business.<\/p>\n

Back then, she was already sorting, naturally dyeing and spinning the wool on the farm, and holding craft days to showcase the wool and bring together other wool lovers.<\/p>\n

\" Patrizia Vieno imported a vintage loom used by a crofter in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides for making Harris Tweed. She plans to weave a Rewa Rewa Station brand of tweed on the loom, housed in her on-farm woollen mill. Photo \/ RNZ, Sally Round<\/p>\n

Now, the garden for growing plants to create the dyes is developing, small batches of wool are washed, dried and machine-processed, creating fine and chunky knitting yarn heading as far afield as the United States and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach label on the skein of yarn that we produce will have a tag number for the individual sheep.<\/p>\n

\" Patrizia Vieno at one of the machines used for separating, carding and spinning, imported from an artisan mill-making firm in Canada. Photo \/ RNZ, Sally Round<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s very much provenance and traceability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vieno believes her model is something others could take up around New Zealand, especially with strengthening wool prices, although she admits it has taken commitment.<\/p>\n

\" Wool drying in a corner of the mini mill. Photo \/ RNZ, Sally Round<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very intensive. You need to have the passion because it\u2019s a lot of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The death of her partner amid the planning for the mill was another challenge on top of the damage caused by the cyclone, not to mention running a large farm with her manager Les Eden.<\/p>\n

\" Wool from Rewa Rewa Station’s flock of sheep, including the Gotland breed, whose fleece comes in a range of earthy colours. Photo \/ RNZ, Sally Round<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kept me going was the fact that we already decided for me to go ahead with this when Rod was alive. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo he saw the foundation of this being laid, literally.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust after the cyclone, the first thing I did was to come down here and see if the water had touched the foundation, which it didn\u2019t, so I know it was a pretty safe place to be, and then sadly Rod passed away a few months later, so he didn\u2019t see any of this, but he\u2019s with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s behind me and pushing me on, telling me off when I don\u2019t do stuff quickly enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve got the sheep, we\u2019ve got the shearers and, as you\u2019ve seen, we can make wool,\u201d she told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,138,12026,55097,296,7243,31609,111,139,69,18833,8909,32951,38603,62,102,12970,83373],"class_list":["post-490848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-and","tag-business","tag-farmer","tag-highend","tag-into","tag-mill","tag-mini","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-round","tag-sally","tag-turns","tag-tweed","tag-wairarapa","tag-with","tag-wool","tag-yarn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}