We were really excited to get our lastest batch of yarn back from the mill in Phillipsburg. The Shepherd's Mill again provided expert processing for our alpaca fiber. We sent the blankets to Sally and her staff soon after the shearing in April. We got the call just before July 4 that the yarn and roving was finished. The mill does a lot of business and the spring has the highest volume of all types of fiber being sent from all over the country to little Phillipsburg, Kansas. The mill is a great tour - interesting and educational. Plus, you will not meet nicer people than Sally and her husband.
The yarn is really beautiful. Manny, Rugar, Scout, and Wes all contributed blankets. The disappointing return (though expected) was Wes. We only ended up with one skein! He had an interesting coat since he had been sheared in the "llama style" with extremely long fiber on the front and hindquarters with a shorter blanket in the middle. We hope that both he and Magellan will produce well for next year. Wes and Magellan are the two black alpacas that were gifts from a couple in the area.
Carl's blanket was processed into roving and half of Manny's blanket was also processed into roving. Carl's roving is a beautiful puffy white cloud in my living room. Manny is a light brown/dark fawn color. We will need to weigh and package the roving in the coming weekend. My favorite roving is the "ends" that includes all the colors of our alpacas in strands of roving that were the "ends" in the yarn processing.
Scout, our best seller, was processed into yarn. He has sold well at the farm and in the yarn shop in Wamego.
We look forward to having an open house in the fall to show off the yarn, roving, and blankets. We also may have socks from the fiber cooperative by the fall. The fiber cooperative took all of our second (neck and leg fiber, mostly). In return for a contribution, you earn credits that can be used to purchase finished products like socks, blankets, shawls, hats, gloves, etc.
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