| Straight from the Source: Buying Farm Yarns When you buy yarn from a mainstream manufacturer, you rarely know the details of its provenance. The label may indicate the yarn's country of origin, but that's about it. Most manufacturers rely on international fiber collectives, processors, and spinneries to locate and process materials for them. Their main concern is the end result -- an attractive yarn that suits their objectives. This means you often have no idea where the actual fibers came from, where the animals were born and raised, and who raised them. While such anonymity of source is standard these days, buying yarn straight from sheep farms lifts the veil of anonymity. How rare and special to meet the animal whose fleece will warm and comfort you for years to come. Even if you find a better deal from a commercial manufacturer, it's not the same as buying straight from the source, just as buying vegetables at a supermarket is different than buying straight from the farm. Pricing Although farm yarns tend to cost less, they're by no means free. Farms must pay for land, maintain their facilities, provide care and feeding for the animals, and pay for the shearing, processing, spinning, dyeing, packaging, and promoting of their yarns. The farm yarns reviewed here average $.04 to $.06 per yard. To put this in context, Brown Sheep's basic Lamb's Pride Worsted is $.03 per yard, while Karabella Yarns' slightly more complex Aurora 8 sells for $.07 per yard. What's Special Sheep farms send out their fleece to be processed and spun. This makes the quality of the fleece itself, rather than the specific spin, differentiate one farm yarn from the other. Some farms dye their own yarns, but most have the processor do this for them as well. Typical Choices Farm yarns tend to be basic, no-frills one-, two-, or three-ply wools, rather like your standard home-baked loaf of bread. This simplicity is partly an issue of economics, with any complex spin or blend requiring a greater investment of time and money than most farms can (or want to) afford. The standard yarn type is also an issue of resources. Because sheep farms rely on a separate spinnery to process, spin, and dye their fibers, they can only order what the spinnery can provide. What follows are a selection of farm yarns that we have reviewed over the years, each with a story that goes far beyond the yarn itself. Farm Yarns Reviewed 
Imperial Stock Ranch DK-weight Columbia wool
Beaverslide Dry Goods worsted-weight wool/mohair blend
Maine Merino
Marr Haven Wool Farm fine wool yarn
Meadowcroft Farm Seacolors
Morehouse Farm Merino lace-weight yarn
Tregellys Fiber Farm 2-ply worstedStraight from the Spinnery
Bartlett Yarns Fisherman's bulky
Green Mountain Spinnery Granite State green
Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain
mohairOther Farm Yarn Sources (not yet reviewed)
Carodan Farm
Vulcan's Rest Fibers Discuss yarns in our forums |
Read about farm yarns |