At this point we have processed a ton of sheep fleece from local farmers as well as our own alpaca stash, and I have to say that I adore both types of fiber for very different reasons. When I first started spinning fiber I mistakenly assumed that people would only ever want super fine fleece. But now I know that it all depends on the situation, and coarse fiber is sometimes exactly what the doctor ordered!

For example,a friend on Ravelry recently was kind enough to give me a  several pounds of Shetland from her own flock. After working with super fine alpaca primarily, it was a strange transition to go from soft, clean fiber to coarse, greasy wool. Yet within five minutes of starting to sort through the Shetland fleece, I quickly fell in love with it. The fibers were long and springy, and the grey color of the fleece was just beautiful. After only one washing, the fleece was absolutely stunning.Sure, it was rough compared to the alpaca and super fine merino I've grown accustomed to spinning, but this coarseness opened up so many doors in terms of what I could create on the spinning wheel, and created the perfect stage for making a beautiful woven rug or tapestry.

Coarse fiber adds a ton of texture to yarn, so mixing some shetland with merino, mohair, and alpaca, created a fantastic, strong fiber that is fantastic for the typical art yarn I love to spin. Another benefit of having such a long staple fiber like Shetland is that you can spin it very loosely as a single without it getting too squirrely, so plying it isn't really needed the way it would be with alpaca. It's easy to draft, takes dye like a dream, and is just all around FUN to spin. I am currently trying to think up several different projects that I might be able to create out of my new stash of Shetland yarn. This is definitely a fiber I plan on keeping on hand whenever possible!

Another interesting thing about Shetland is that not all of it is coarse like that... it's as diverse in texture as alpaca, and they come in 11 distinct colors and 30 different coat patterns! What I love the most about Briana's fiber is that I know it comes from sheep that have been treated like pets, in a cruelty free and loving environment.

For skin-contact, Alpaca is still my very favorite type of fiber (tied only with Tibetan Yak) to both knit with and wear. The lack of scratchiness and unbelievable warmth make it a true luxury fiber (it's softer than most of the cashmere I have!). But shetland is a breath of fresh air, long and easy to spin, and .... well... just fun! 

It just goes to show you that sometimes trying new things can be a wonderful surprise, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

Special thanks to Briana for her Shetland Wool -  check out her Etsy store to purchase some of her goodies!

This has been a very busy couple of weeks! Dan (my husband) and I knew that we wanted to start a farm someday. I told him that using my love for art and animals and mixing it with the fiber industry would be an amazing way to create and make a living.

I originally wanted to learn how to spin because I got into knitting and crocheting and noticed that all of the yarn I was finding at hobby stores was... well..... boring!  A quick search online brought up some beautiful hand dyed yarn, but some people were asking for nearly $100 per skein... something I could definitely not afford on my budget. So I set out to find a way to create beautiful colors at an affordable price so I could use my own yarn and also try to share some of it with the rest of the world.

One day I came across a lady who was moving back to Seattle and selling her alpaca farm, I jumped at the chance to buy over 200 pounds of alpaca fiber from her. Because dan and I are "starving students", this was a risky move and Dan wasn't at all convinced that it would pay off. But within the first two days of posting our raw fiber for sale, we had made back what we'd invested in it.
We quickly realized that neither of us were comfortable sending dirty fleece in the mail, so we started washing and picking all of the fleece before we sent it (still selling it as "raw" because we didn't know any better).

Now, only a month after we originally opened our fiber store, Blue Barn Fiber, we have been told by several customers that our fiber is the best processed, cleanest Alpaca that they have ever worked with!  It's easy to understand why. If I won't spin it myself, I certainly won't sell it to a potential customer, and i absolutely HATE spinning fiber that's mucked up with VM. I get it as clean as possible and probably spend more time working on it than I ought to, but it's just important to me that people like their fiber enough to come back to us.


Processing our own fiber by hand has taught me so much about what to look for in a good fleece. It has also taught me that we sold most of our alpaca for far less than it was worth -- good for our customers, oh well for us. The remaining alpaca fiber that we have is all just amazingly soft - between grade 1 and 2 - and I'm tempted to keep it all for myself! Of course, I'll probably end up just selling the yarn that I make out of it, so it will find its way back into the world in one way or another.


As for Alpaca farming, one day we will have a farm of our own and raise our own alpacas, goats, sheep, and bunnies. Until then, we are really enjoying finding fiber from all over the world and doing the hard work so we can turn something raw into something beautiful. Buying our initial supply of alpaca opened up so many doors for us, and made me realize that this is something we really want to continue to do for a living going forward.