I would like to start by thanking Karen at Fibers First Inc. for allowing us to invade her shop and share a better understanding of the process to get commercial roving and yarn from domestic producers. Some of the fibers that we deal with everyday are processed from Fibers First! Karen greeted us at the […]

Micron Bradford System USDA Fiber Grades Blood System Picking fibers by Numbers A word of warning – there is more to a fiber than the numbers that define it, there is no measurement for crimp, elasticity, luster or durability which should be considered. Touch is an inherently subjective sense, what one person experiences will never […]

More Viking Sheep! The Gotland sheep were established on the Swedish island of Gotland by the Vikings along with Karakul and Romanov sheep that crossed with the native landrace sheep. It created a beautiful and unique sheep known today mostly from the Lord of the Rings films. Let’s talk about the “Lord of the Rings […]

  I love getting questions about posts or fiber arts, so if you think of any feel free to post them in the comments sections and I will get you an answer, but it might take me a while… I was asked about the best ways to store fiber for long term, and I thought […]

The sheep that look like bunnies! Cheviot is one of the well-recognized breeds in England recorded to be on the borderlands as early as 1372. The story is that the breed developed from sheep that swam ashore from a shipwrecked Spanish ship after the defeat of the Armada. Developed on the Scottish Border and Northumberland, […]

  There is a romantic old world quality that shines out when you talk about Rickwood Farms with owner Peggy. A short jaunt from our shop, Rickwood farms is a local fiber producer growing lovely Rambollet and Columbia sheep. On 80 acres with about 60 breeding ewes and market lambs for 4Hers, fiber is her […]

Most breeds names are a combination of their development location as well as any unique physical element, the California Red is no different. Developed in 1970 by Dr. Glenn Spurlock who hoped to breed a hair sheep that would have no wool, the California Red is born without wool, only red hair. However as it […]

Saving New Zealand one Possum blend at a time! The common brushtail possum from New Zealand, is an invasive species introduced to in the 1850, and activity  damages New Zealand’s ecology. There is a population of over 30 million and are the number 1 noxious animal, they over populate and actively deteriorate their environment. Possums […]

Sari sometimes translated to “strip of cloth” is the traditional women’s garment in the Indian subcontinent.  Saris are made with a few different types of fibers, but silk is the most well known.Sari silk is often made of silk filaments that are spun together and then woven into the final garment, most of our recycled […]

Muskox is the most misleading name for creatures in the fiber world. Named “Musk” for the distinctive smell of associated with them; they have no musk glands. Nor are Muskox closely related to oxen or cattle of any kind they are more closely related to sheep and goats. They are the largest Caprinae (species including […]

I have to say that sheep have some of the best names, my favorites including “Dorper” (door-per). Never heard of Dorper before? That may be because some of you might be older than the breed. Developed in the 1950’s Dorper are a hair sheep not often seen in the wool world, while they have a […]

There are two types of fiber producing goats, goats that produce Cashmere and Angora goats that produce Mohair. All domestic goats came from a single breed of goat still living today the Bezoar Ibex which produces Cashmere, or the down of the goat, in a near unusable amounts of fiber. Bezoar was domesticated by Neolithic […]