Dyer’s Rants

example of a Columbia Sheep

Greetings All!,

I know I have not been on the blogging scene of late…I have been a twitter monkey more than anything in that I tend to have short, 140 character thoughts-profound thoughts-but short thoughts-so please follow me-and I do include pictures. My reasoning is that I am still a one man show and time is a diminishing resource. But on that front-I have just purchase some motorized skeining equipment so I hope to blog more. And I do have so much to talk about-on farming, dyeing, and the yarn industry in general.

Oooh farming!!! Now I am on the path to something exciting and something close to my heart. One of the main reasons I knit and perhaps you knit…is to come back to simple values…values this country was founded on-simple-can do-back to the land attitudes. Farming embodies these-and I mean real farming…hands on-getting your fingernails dirty-stepping in poop-work till you drop farming. Farmers are self reliant and I love that-I have respect for that. So much respect that I want to celebrate American farming with Scarlet Fleece. My business is partnering with Von Strom Quilting and Fiber Mill in Ohio to start a line of breed specific yarn from wool grown from well fed American sheep and other fiber animals. Much of what is sold here comes from South America, China, Australia and other countries and are milled elsewhere. Now don’t get me wrong-there are many wonderful products that I use in Scarlet Fleece that are produced from farms abroad. But I want to add to my line using a resource that is much ignored in this country and the yarn industry in general.  As a cashmere grower of several years-it was frustrating to learn that there was very little market development for American fiber. I could not sustain a farm on cashmere sales. And I have spent years trying to figure out how this could be done. Well……I am proud to say that Trinity Lace is the only commercially available yarn that I am aware of that has only American Cashmere. It is a beginning and it has gotten my wheels turning!!! And news to you…Trinity Lace will be available soon not only through your local yarn shop-but it is available online through sites like Earth Faire (www.earthfaire.com) and later this Spring-via the Patternworks catalog.

So what next? Well, Toia-owner of our mill-and I are in the development stages of the 1st of what I hope will be many breed specific yarns. We are starting with Columbia wool. It is a wonderful soft fleece to work with. We will be featuring the actual farms the fiber is grown on-and this info will be featured on the label and on our  website so that you know the story of your yarn-where and by whom it was produced. American farmers raise well fed animals and produce a superior quality of fiber that I want to bring to you to experience. Often our animals have names and are family members-not always…depends on the scale of the farm. But my focus will be on family farms and I want to provide a return to the farmer for their wonderful work and to hopefully support a cherished part of our heritage.

Now I am in the process of coming up with a name of this new direction…right now I am referring to it as the American Fleece Project. Any ideas along this line…feel free to share. And the next fiber…will be Shetland-can’t wait!

And in other news..I am in the throws of coming up with the 2011 colorways…I will tweet about the process-with twitpics and everything. Go to my homepage at scarletfleece.com and scroll down to my twitter box to follow if you like. That is it for now-I hope to blog soon with more…so stay tuned!