MacAusland's Woolen Mill - a century old family business making beautiful woolen blankets

MacAusland's woolen blanket


If you're lucky you only get a few rainy days during a holiday on Prince Edward Island, on one of these days my Dad and I headed west to visit MacAusland's Woolen Mill in Bloomfield, PEI located on the western end of the island.

MacAusland's is a family business that's been in operation for over a century. Impressive. It began as a sawmill in 1870; by 1902 it was producing yarn and in 1932 started producing its well-known, very beautiful woolen blankets.



I happen to have a bit of an obsession with blankets. I collect vintage ones picked up mostly at thrift shops. That's right. There are ways to deal with the ick factor that you might feel. Remodelista has a great post on how to do that right here.

So a trip to this family run business had to be done. In fact, I've been saying I want to go for years but I never managed to get there. I'm so glad I did. It was fun to visit the mill, see how the blankets are made and choose something special to bring home. Instant heirloom. Made in Canada. Love that.

If you happen to have some freshly sheared sheep wool you can bring it into the mill to be washed and turned into skeins of wool ready for your own projects or you can have the wool turned into a blanket. How cool is that?! 

MacAusland's Woolen Mill, inside the mill

MacAusland's Woolen Mill, inside the mill

MacAusland's Woolen Mill, inside the mill

The blanket I finally settled on (it was so hard to choose!) was woven by this lady right here, the latest MacAusland to carry on the family business. I love that I met the (lovely) person who made my blanket. It's heartwarming to know that local businesses like this are still thriving.




The good news is that you don't have to wait until you are on the island because they ship across Canada! So head over to their website and start browsing and then give them a call or email to order. Their old fashioned like that.




P.S. In case you were wondering...this is not a sponsored post. I'm just a fan :)