Every Thursday, Pam Rensberger minds the store at The Bird’s Nest, 105 E. Rochester St., Akron, and when she is not helping customers she may be found spinning wool, as seen above, or weaving on one of her looms. Rensberger makes wool-to-wear products starting with her flock of 27 Lincoln Longwool sheep she raises at Circle PR Homestead, where she also has a workshop and hopes to soon conduct classes. InkFreeNews Photo by David Hazledine.

By DAVID HAZLEDINE
InkFreeNews

AKRON — For roughly 10 years, Akron’s Pam Rensberger has been deeply involved in the production of wool-to-wear products, starting at the source.

At her 20-acre Circle PR Homestead, Rensberger raises Lincoln Longwool sheep and then spins the wool into yarn, which she uses to make a long list of items, most she weaves on one of her looms.

“I have 27 sheep bred to grow fleece, and I shear them twice a year,” she explained.“I make about anything: Towels, scarves, saddle blankets, rugs, baby blankets … anything that uses crisscross materials together can be made on a loom.”

So far she has collected five or six looms of varying sizes, a natural outgrowth of her yarn production. “I thought, ‘what do I do with all this yarn I’m spinning,’ and I ended up with a loom.”

Larger looms are used for rugs or blankets; however, she also has smaller, “student-size” looms, which she said are “not so intimidating.”

These come in handy when on Career Day she visits third graders at Akron Elementary School to teach them about the history of clothing and the making of textiles, covering everything from the sheep through to the finished goods.

Rensberger hopes to do more in the way of education in the near future. She is planning to offer classes at her workshop in 2023, and would love to work more with children in schools or 4-H. “I’d like to get into the school system and teach fiber-related arts to kids. Kids need to know about these things.”

A lifelong trainer of standardbred horses, Rensberger is also involved with the Fulton County 4-H Horse and Pony Club.

“I’ve been a knitter and sewer for a while. … I’m a very tactile person, I need to touch everything,” Rensberger reflected, so when she discovered wool she thought, “this is for me.”

Her sheep produce medium-grade wool, which grows in “curlicues the consistency of fleece across the animal.” The wool is easy to spin into yarn and ideal for rugs, bags and outer wear. Rensberger looks for clean wool that “feels good in your hand.”

The wool also comes in a wide range of natural colors, which she may then choose to dye using natural products such as hedge apples for Osage orange, goldenrod for yellow, and she even ferments her own indigo dye in a vat. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Rensberger is originally from Ohio and moved to Indiana in 1995. She and her husband Gary have four children and eight grandchildren.

Spinning wool is a far cry from Rensberger’s previous work. For 15 years she was a paramedic; she was also an emergency room nurse and taught nursing at the state level. “It’s an incredibly hard but very rewarding career,” she stated. “I could write a book.” However, she developed a heart condition and could no longer “keep up the pace.”

These days, Rensberger can be found every Thursday at The Bird’s Nest in Akron, where she watches over the store for her friend Lisa Paxton. When not helping customers, she works on a loom or spins yarn. This also gives visitors the opportunity to see the process and feel the unique wool produced from her sheep’s “curly locks.”

For more information on Rensberger’s wool-to-wear products and upcoming classes, visit her Facebook page at facebook.com/circleprhomestead.

The Birds Nest is located at 105 E. Rochester St., Akron.