What we did on our Summer "Vacation"

The last time we drove to Texas was 2005. We visited some old friends, made some new ones and brought home two of the best stud bucks in the state.
Fast forward to 2010 and we were in need of some new breeding bloodlines. But this year we had a bit more in the "works". Dan decided that he wanted to try and gather raw wool fiber from a number of local sheep growers and design a blanket project. The project would involve evaluating and collecting the wool from each producer ; delivering the fiber to a scouring plant in the USA ; trucking the fiber to a New York State processing and weaving mill and finally marketing and selling the blankets. The goal was, and is, to pay local wool producers a better rate for their raw wool, than the average wool pool and all the while keep production of the blanket within the USA. This was a very important aspect as there are some fiber farms and groups that claim to do business in the USA and/or with local producers in their area but somehow feel justified in shipping fiber out of the country to be processed and continue to claim its a local product produced sustainably . Go figure ?
During the months of March, April, May and June we traveled around to local wool growers and collected wool. In late June we packed the trailer full of 1200 pounds of wool and 2000 pounds of raw mohair. The wool was headed to a scouring plant along our route and the mohair was making the long trip all the way to Texas with us.




Why take mohair to Texas ? Well, Texas is THE mohair capital of the USA. There are more Angora goats in the state of Texas than any other state in the Union. Consequently a system of warehouses for collecting, storing and brokering sales of mohair developed. We took those portions of our fleece that we do not generally use for roving or yarn to the warehouse to be sold.

The warehouses are very large and hold many producers clips of mohair. Local and foreign buyers travel to Texas to buy large quantities of natural fibers for their businesses. Having the raw fiber located in central locations within the state makes it easier --otherwise buyers would have to visit individual producers who may be located hundreds of miles apart in distance.

The fiber is then made into garments, rugs and home accessories .....like blankets !

We'll post part 2 of our journey later in the week.
Until then.....

75 Days 'Til Spring !