So...that happened. And it might explain why I managed to walk away from Rhinebeck without buying any yarn. Because....I picked up my own! This was three shearings worth of fiber that I sent off to Battenkill Fibers. It's the second time I've worked with them and I couldn't be happier about the work they do. This yarn is so yummy. Really and truly - yummy.
When I picked it up, I promptly stashed in the back of the car, and the moved it to my studio once home. It's been sitting there for a week - tempting me, reminding me, calling to me! This morning I was finally able to take the time to unpack it all, really dive in and organize it, finishing hanking the skeins and such. Taking tally of it all. It's a lot of yarn. Like, a lot.
To be honest, I'm at a loss for words about it all. Not only what a joy it is to have it here, in this beautiful finished yarn product - the result of all the days caring for and loving up our sheep. But also at the reality that there is more to come, with another shearing from last week being ready to send off to the mill. (Though cutting our herd from 12 to 7 this summer sure does make things a bit more manageable. Still, we shear our shetlands twice a year. It's a lot of wool!) But I'm also at a bit of a loss for words with wondering just what I'm going to do with it all! I never got into this sheep business intending to sell yarn, and all this time in, I feel even more strongly about that and for perhaps different reasons than I originally had. In the beginning, I wanted to keep the hobby a hobby, and to keep my working life focused on the things I already do. Simplicity, as much as I can find it. But as time has gone on, and I've run the numbers out of curiosity, I find I've stumbled onto the shocking and true cost of wool. Granted a slightly larger scale makes things easier. But for the small farmer? The price I estimate each skein of yarn to be is nearly triple the average skein you'd stumble upon at a yarn shop. And that would just cover my costs in processing and hay alone. But there's so much more - infrastructure (oh the fences!), vet bills, shearing, and oh - that little thing called our time! I suppose just like so many other industries of product we've come to buy that has been mass produced - there is so much that goes into the making of it, and in order for it to be done well - ethically, and with thought to the planet and animals - well, wow. There's a real and true cost to that.
I say this not so that you can encourage me to sell it (I really truly don't want to do that), but maybe just as a thought to tuck in the back of your head for the next time you feel sticker shock at a skein of wool yarn produced by a small farmer. I've felt the same myself before. Now I wonder how it's even possible to sustain as a business model! Is it? (Trust me, I'm already scouting out a Taproot article diving deeper into this very subject!) And I have even more respect for those farms selling their own wares.
So, no to selling. But yes to sharing with friends (and a few community groups - my children's school is going to be set with wool for ages!). And heck yes to more knitting! It looks like there's going to be a lot of that in my future. And that, well that's precisely why I got into this all to begin with, and the full circle nature of it all is beyond any words I can summon. So gratifying, and real. I feel like a lucky lady - so rich in wool.