The SRS Australian Merino Story
We are proud to carry the beautiful Soft Rolled Skin (SRS) Australian Merino yarn in our store.
This yarn is literally sheep to skein, grown and processed in NSW, Australia and spun in NZ. It is a non superwash yarn so no harsh chemicals have been used in the processing, yet it is still so soft to the skin. The wool staple is allowed to grow to 10cm rather than the usual 6 cm which gives the spun yarn more strength and lustre with less pilling and felting, and did we mention soft.
The sheep do not need to be mulesed as they are bred with less rolls in their skin and are less prone to disease and fly strike.
YARN SPECIFICATIONS
Fibres - 100% Australian Non Mulesed Merino
Texture - plied 3 strands
Unit weight - 100 grams
4 Ply Fingering Weight
Meterage - 340m (371 yds)
Gauge - 20 wpi
8 Ply DK Weight
Meterage - 210m (230 yds)
Gauge -14 wpi
CARE - Hand wash only, dry flat. Even though this is a superwash merino, the yak content of this yarn means that it must be hand washed or it will felt. 
Image: Mount Bodangora Merino, a six generation Merino property run by the Lyons family, near Dubbo, NSW. Sheep in the pens ready for shearing.
THE GROWER
The Lyons have 9,000 Soft Rolling Skin (SRS) Merino sheep that produce a wonderful fleece that is ideal for yarn.
The SRS Merino is fast growing with a high crimp that binds
particularly well in the milling process and is renowned for its low itch feel. The SRS Merino sheep are smooth bodied, naturally resistant to fly strike and never need to be mulesed.
The Lyons run a mob of 2000 sheep especially for Great Southern Yarn to supply us with a longer length fleece of around 100mm or four inches to create the best of yarns.
OUR SUPPLIER
Kirchelly Textiles is a family-owned business based on Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia.
Kirchelly Textiles is committed to ethical and sustainable practices for producing our woollen products. We like to call our little process “Sheep to Skein”.
We have 2,000 head of SRS-Merino under management by Mt. Bodangora Merino Farm in Wellington, NSW that we have negotiated direct contracts with. Mt. Bodangora specialises in SRS-Merino (Soft Rolled Skin), which has been specifically developed to not require mulesing to prevent fly blow. This has the benefit of being cruelty free to the animals, something my wife and I as animal lovers are passionate about.
Our fleeces are processed in NZ at Design Spun Mills due to no mills in Australia being able to work with the volume and type of Merino we are processing. The waste from our scouring and combing is turned into fertilising pellets used for sustainable farming.
We do not Super Wash our wool, although the milling process and the use of the long hair SRS Merino makes it feel just like it is.
We then process the raw yarn at out dye studio at Wyong in NSW where we wholesale the base to other dyers, as well as dye for wholesale. We love what we produce and love that others are catching on that you can produce ethically sources, cruelty free wool products right here in Australia.
Kirchelly Textiles was started in 2023 by Jarrad & Aleashia Kircher who endeavour to produce a top quality, ethically produced yarn products to support the yarn industry.