In this episode I talk to Amy DuFault. She is the organizer of the Southeastern New England Fibershed as well as the Director of Sustainability for Botanical Colors. We had a fascinating conversation about all kinds of things. It started out as a talk about how to naturally dye while traveling. We also veered into all kinds of other topics. We had a great time. I hope you enjoy it too. You can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts and even as a video podcast on Spotify. Find it here.
Interested in Mohair yarn or roving? Well we have you covered. Find it in our online store.
This year one business goal was to widen out my farm yarn line. I have lots of choices in the Worsted weight yarn. I have Synergy: the marled yarn that looks hand spun. I have LiViLy that is from my fine wool Cormo Sheep. I have Trasna made from the long lustrous fleeces of my BFL Cormo Hybrid sheep. I have Fingals which is from my pure bred BFL sheep. That’s a lot of yarn in one single weight.
So this year, I wanted to add a fingering and a sport weight to my wool yarns. I also wanted to replenish my yearling mohair that is a fingering weight yarn. And I have a LOT of PolyPay wool that I bought from a shepherd in Virginia. I really want it to be a bulky yarn.
So yesterday I unboxed my yarn shipment from the mill. And I was sooooo happy.
I have a beautiful fingering weight wool from the hybrids. there are over 400 yards in a 4 oz skein.
I have a lovely sport weight yarn with the cormo wool that has over 300 yards in a skein.
The yearling mohair came back perfectly matching the previous run.
The polypay did not come back as bulky. It came back as worsted. But it is lovely. The wool “tells” us how it wants to be spun. And it really didn’t want to be bulky.
Time to get to the dye pots and see how these babies do. I usually don’t list my farm yarns in it’s natural form. But if you see something you really need, just shoot me an email.
This is a 100% mohair yarn made from the fleece of our mohair goats. The leader of that pack was a lovely goat named Cacao. That’s because she was milk chocolate when she was born. She faded throughout her life. This yarn is a 2 ply that is DK weight. It is a light tan color with lots of sheen.
This is a great yarn to use for outer wear. You really won’t want to put this next to your delicate skin on your neck. But a hat, mittens, sweater and even slippers would be a great use for this yarn. You can grab some for yourself today here.
Well they made the fleeces, right? They ate grass and a little grain. They hung out in the barn. They did their part to add more carbon and nitrogen into the soil here at the farm. And once a year they are shorn, no it doesn’t hurt them. And then I take it to be cleaned, combed and spun into yarn.
Sometimes I leave them in their natural colors and sometimes I dye them up in luscious colors.
