Let’s talk about fiber for a change! Taking the beautiful fiber that we harvest from our herd and turning it into yarn and, ultimately, a finished product, is extremely satisfying. But it’s not always easy to find the time to see the whole process through to the end. That’s one reason that we sell much more yarn than finished products from our farm.
So I was delighted last year when I were asked to provide yarn for a project that would be completed by a Vermont fiber artist. woollymama fiber arts creates gorgeous felted pillows. My task was to produce a yarn that would be similar to the commercial yarn she uses for her pillows, then dye it to match colors in the client’s rug. I was provided with a yarn sample and sent that off to the mill with a request to match it as closely as possible by spinning a 50% alpaca/50% wool yarn. Sallie’s Fen, as usual, managed to produce a beautiful yarn that felted well in a test run.
Now for the colors. Generally, I am free to dye yarn in colors that appeal to me on a whim. This time, my goal was to dye two specific colors. I envisioned a lot of testing and tweaking, but, by making incremental changes to my existing color formulas, it actually did not take long to get two colors that worked.
Once the pillow sizes were selected, the yardage was calculated and the actually dyeing process went smoothly. The yarn is now in the hands of the artist and we are all anticipating the finished pillows soon! I think that the three of us involved in this project are all equally excited about seeing the fiber being taken from the alpaca to the finished product which is being handcrafted right here in Vermont.