Heritage NL

06/10/2026

06/08/2026

Heritage NL has some desks, office dividers, and filing cabinets we're willing to donate to a museum, heritage organization, or not-for-profit, if you can come pick them up in St. John's. Email [email protected]

06/06/2026

Today is the day! See you at Sheep to Sock Fibre Festival happening today from 10am-4pm at O'Brien Farm, 150 Oxen Pond Road.

06/05/2026

A little sneak peek at the Sheep to Sock Fibre Festival! Weaver Jessica McDonald has been busy tonight setting up our floor loom provided by the Anna Templeton Centre. Jessica will be at O'Brien Farm tomorrow demonstrating, alongside spinner Beth Howley of Angora Borealis Homespun NL, with lots of other crafters and our friends from Sheep Producers of Newfoundland & Labrador from 10-4! See you on the farm!

06/05/2026

Be sure to visit Changing of the Seasons: the Turning of the Wheel, a month-long fibre arts exhibit presented in tandem with the Sheep to Sock event at O’Brien Farm. This exhibit celebrates the cyclical nature of the seasons, traditional craft practices, and the O’Brien Farm Foundation's long ties to sustainability and agriculture. This exhibit will run until June 15th in the Visitor Centre.

At 1:30pm during the Sheep to Sock Fibre Festival Heritage NL will award prize ribbons to artworks that best represent traditions listed in the Craft at Risk document, which lists endangered craft practices and encourages the sharing of heritage skills.

See https://heyor.ca/ISU0Rm for more information on Sheep to Sock happening June 6th, 10am-4pm!

Wide angle photo of exhibit space -- please see pieces in person!

06/05/2026

Join us tomorrow afternoon, June 6th, for a special hands-on demonstration of waulking by students of College of the North Atlantic Textile and Apparel Design Program. Waulking, also known as milling or fulling, is a process where woven cloth is wet and then rhythmically beaten on a table or board in order to shrink it to a certain width and to tighten the weave. This traditionally Scottish practice was found in the Codroy Valley region where milling parties included songs sung in Scottish Gaelic, French, and English.

The CNA students will be waulking at 2:00pm so come by and feel free to join in the fun!

See https://heyor.ca/ISU0Rm for more information on Sheep to Sock happening June 6th, 10am-4pm!

Waulking video of CNA Textile and Apparel Design Program students. They are using a textile woven by instructor, Stephanie Stoker with material dyed by instructor, Susan Furneaux at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador‘s Sustainable Fibre Arts Conference in September 2024.

06/04/2026

Heritage NL is excited to highlight our spinning demonstrator for the Sheep to Sock Fibre Festival, Beth Howley.

Beth Howley is a spinner, dyer, and knitter who uses heritage techniques and natural fibers to create new and exciting pieces. She grew up with scissors and tape and needles of all sorts in hand. Beth and her husband Rich raised their family on their organic veggie farm where most everything was done by hand. In 2017 she thought it would be fun to add angora rabbits to the farm and that’s when Angora Borealis Homespun NL came to be. For several years Beth had a studio at Quidi Vidi Artisan Studios in St. John’s, NL where she sold her hand spun and hand dyed wool. Today she creates whatever thrills her heart using old world technology, her hands and natural fibres.

Photos courtesy of Beth Howley of Angora Borealis Homespun NL.

See https://heyor.ca/ISU0Rm for more information on Sheep to Sock happening June 6th, 10am-4pm!

06/04/2026

Reminder of the Farm Fresh Feast hosted by O'Brien Farm Foundation and Sheep Producers Association of Newfoundland and Labrador happening tomorrow evening, Friday, June 5th. This event will celebrate local farmers and great local food in advance of Saturday's Sheep to Sock Fibre Festival.

The menu will feature:
Spring Salad, Slow Roasted Lamb with a Guinness Marmalade Glaze and Whipped Potatoes, and Pavlovas with Rhubarb & Cardamon

This is a ticketed event by O'Brien Farm and SPANL so grab your tickets in advance here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/farm-fresh-feast-tickets-1990176220650

Please note there are few tickets left, and they may sell out today.

06/03/2026

Heritage NL is so excited for ! We're presenting one of our upcoming collaborators and demonstrators, Grey Socks Project!

During WW1 thousands of socks, scarves, mittens, and hats were knit by the women of Newfoundland and Labrador and sent overseas; the Women's Patriotic Association (WPA) led this effort. The WPA comprised over 15,000 women across Newfoundland and Labrador who donated their time to raise money and support those at home and overseas. One of their goals was to provide Newfoundland and Labrador troops with the comforts of home.

To commemorate the WPA's efforts for those at home and overseas, the Trail of the Caribou Research Group, NONIA, Heritage NL, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Newfoundland and Labrador Historical Society, and Christine LeGrow are working on a short documentary that will tell the story of the families who sent care packages to the soldiers and the group efforts of the WPA. The video will capture the knitting of the socks from the perspective of the WPA and of individual care packages assembled and mailed by families. The Grey Sock Project aims to link traditional craft and contemporary community by creating knit goods, and sharing stories.

We’ll have knitters from the Newfoundland Outport Nursing and Industrial Association (NONIA), Christine LeGrow of Spindrift Knits, and Michael Pretty from the Trail of the Caribou Research Group discussing the project.

Head to https://heyor.ca/ISU0Rm to learn more!