Latest News
Current Turn Around Time: For new orders, 6 to 8 weeks. This is an elastic number that changes with incoming orders.
What's new at the Mill?
° For 2010, the
Preferred Customer List will continue. If you have already had 25 pounds of finished yarn or roving made by us since we opened, you will receive a 10% discount on all orders in 2010. If you have not reached 25 pounds so far, all yarn (or roving) up to the 25 pounds will be at the regular rate with the discount beginning after that.
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Newsletters and Articles
June 2008 Article All Fleece is Good Fiber - If you choose the right use for it
#1 July 2005 Newsletter Feature article: GOOD YARN: So you want good yarn?
Barbara's Blog
08/23/09
06/28/09
04/19/09
02/28/09
02/02/09
12/31/08
12/01/08
08/23/09:
August 23, 2009
Greetings from the Mill,
I thought we were busy the last time I wrote. Well, we have done lots of fun stuff this past almost 2 months.
We have spun lots of Suri, dyed lots of fiber in almost 20 different colors, spun super fine Huacaya and Suri yarn, and just done lots of normal yarn too. We have been testing new soaps and have come up with a better washing system, at least we think. Just need a little more time to see the results.
I promoted Nadine to Assistant Manager at the end of June. She can run all the machines, has learned a great deal about dyeing fiber (you should see what she sells of her own wool), and is always finding better ways to do things.
Nadine, Julie, and I have been plowing through fiber and we are still hitting about 4 to 6 weeks to get yarn back to people from their raw fiber. The quick turn around time keeps us from getting bored, but we love fiber, so boredom is not usually a factor around here. :-)
We are running so much fiber through the carder, Nadine and I are tearing it down to clean and putting back together again on a more frequent basis. Sure glad we have Lava soap in the mill to wash off the grease. The spinner is also running almost all day long.
I’m planning on two shows this fall, Alpaca Affaire in Chehalis WA and AlpacaMania in Central Point OR so I will be dyeing some fiber to make up yarn for the shows. I’m thinking a nice teal and a burgundy, maybe a few other colors too. Got ideas? Send them to me. We will see how much time we have.
From the farm: Dapper, our 12 year old gelding was having serious digestive problems again in July and I thought we might lose him, but after a week of TLC he had pulled through again. He has always had problems since we got him, sometimes it is just worse than others.
On the personal side: Ken had surgery in July so I was at the hospital and caring for him while Nadine ran the mill some days. He is doing much better, but I’m still doing all the farm chores. We have had so far THIS month (August), 3 sets of family visits and one more coming on the 26th. Ken’s sister and brother-in-law came with their camper from Florida, our older daughter flew in from Missouri, my folks drove up from California, and now we are expecting Ken’s brother and sister-in-law from Georgia. Then my Dad is coming again in September. Talk about busy!
I will be teaching Algebra again this fall at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay 2 evenings a week. I really enjoy teaching so I get to do what I love, playing with fiber and teaching math.
When our daughter was here, so got me on Facebook, not that I’ve had time to do much, but it’s a start.
Well, that is all I can think of right now, so keep the fiber coming in and we’ll keep making yarn for you.
Barbara
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06/28/09:
June 28, 2009
Greetings from the Mill,
I know I’m a little late for the end of May and it is almost the end of June. We have been busy.
I attended the CABA show on Saturday and got to see lots of people, then came home that evening. We have been getting through fiber really quickly thanks to Nadine and our new employee Julie who started mid-June. Turn around time is about 4 weeks right now.
Nadine and I went to the Black Sheep Gathering on Friday the 18th of June and met several people to pick up and drop off fiber and yarn. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we had an Open House at the mill. It was fun. (The mill also gets cleaned up nicely when we have an open house.)
One evening before the open house I was trying to finish up some spinning and decided to blend some white bamboo roving I had gotten last year at Black Sheep with some gray alpaca roving that I had on hand. It is a 55% alpaca/45% bamboo blend and it turned out very nice. (You can see it on the Yarn & Roving page.)
Nothing very exciting these past 2 months, just lots of fiber being made into yarn.
We sheared our 5 alpacas Memorial Day weekend along with a friend’s 2 fiber boys. That was Julie’s first hands on experience with shearing. She made it through and still wanted to work for me.
I also had a birthday this month and Ken and I went for a drive that took us from the ocean to the mountains. We stopped at a couple of museums and a country store at the end of the road. We also hiked to a waterfall that we had hiked to last fall. Lots more water this time of year.
Well, that’s about it for now. Take care.
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04/19/09:
April 19, 2009
Wow! What a busy March and the first half of April. March was getting ready for the 2 shows the first 2 weekends of April and then going to the shows.
Now that the spinner is spinning like a top, we finished 6 orders (which all went with me north) and lots of colored yarns and some space dye yarns too before April 1. There are pictures of what I have left on the yarn page.
April 4th – 5th, I was in Puyallup, WA at Alpacapalooza. Friday was cold, but the weekend was nice which really helped bring people out as well as 2 other shows at the fairgrounds. It is always nice when you can unload and reload your vehicle without rain or snow. I was always busy and talked to a lot of new people.
April 11th – 12th, I was in Reno at AWE. Friday was cold and snowy driving over. Not what I would call fun. I was able to unload the van with just a sprinkle. Saturday and Sunday were nice, but inside the building was cold to keep the alpacas comfortable. Oh well, that is why I wear an alpaca sweater - hand made and my own yarn of course. AWE was also a good show and met a lot more very nice people.
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These pictures I took with my phone. Never had e-mailed pictures to myself before, so I’m learning.
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The nice part about going to Reno was I could stop and see my Dad for several days coming back. Ken kept telling me to enjoy my vacation since there was a lot of work to do when I got home.
We now have our first wholesale order in!!!!! I’m excited, if you could not guess. All Points Yarn in Des Moines, WA will be the first store to carry our yarn label. We have had consignment shops/farm stores before, but this is our next step in getting wonderful alpaca yarn that is locally grown and made into the hands of users.
Some of you saw me knitting a hat of the multi colored yarn at Alpacapalooza.
Well, I finished it at AWE. It came out really cute. What do you think? -- > > >
We are still about 4 to 6 weeks out at this moment, but sometimes I have no idea a box is arriving until it shows up. It’s like Christmas when we open it.
Better wrap this up and get ready for this next week.
Talk with you soon.
Barbara
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02/28/09:
Hi All,
What a month. Many of you ask me when I see you at shows: “Who does your maintenance and repairs?” Well, I always answer “Us”. We have had quite a month of maintenance and repairs!
It really started January 22nd, when one of the inverters (the box that changes 220v power to 3-phase) on the spinner started acting up (it has 3, one for each motor). So we looked around and Ken found a new one in Portland. Since I was driving through Portland on Monday, I picked it up and brought it home. Ken had labeled all the wires and disconnected the old one and on Tuesday morning he installed the new one.
OK, we are running again until Friday (Jan 30). A different (smaller) inverter starts acting up in the same way. So I call and order a new one to replace that one. We talk with the manufacture’s rep and they say maybe it’s overheating. OK, so I leave the door open. By Monday we are up and running again with the old (smaller) inverter still in. (The new one arrived and is still sitting on the table unopened, because the old one started working in the meantime.)
On to the next Friday (Feb 6). The spinner starts making a grinding noise that we have never heard before. Talking with my consultant (who lives in eastern Canada), he has me take the gears off the end of the drive shaft. The noise seems to stop. Apply lots of grease and oil. Put it back together. We are back up and running again.
On to the next Friday (Feb 13). The spinner comes to a grinding halt and I mean grinding. Before calling my consultant, we take off the gears, but when we try it again, it is still grinding. That leaves the drive shaft. Consultant says maybe the bearings are gone. OK. That means taking the drive shaft out of the machines. Yeah, right! And he thinks it’s the bearing nearest the gears.
The drive shaft is 10 feet long and lays in the middle of the spinning frame with drive wheels on it and 3 bearing units bolted down (that’s the easy part to undo) and sprocket gears on the end that goes through a metal wall. You get the picture.
I get the sprockets off and have 2 sets of them with their chains laying on the floor (on paper towels to keep grease and oil off the floor) but the bearing units are not moving.
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Saturday. My consultant e-mails pages from the catalog of parts, but downloading them is long and slow (I have dial up service) so he tells me how to find it without downloading the whole thing. We have the drive shaft moved about 10 inches out of the machine. That thing is heavy and we have had to loosen some of the drive wheels to move it around in the frame. No way is it coming OUT. There is also a wall of the building 3 feet from the end of the machines where it would have to come out.
Are you laughing yet?
Sunday morning. I try early to get the info I need from the catalog. It works and I print the pages so I don’t have to look them up again. One of them tells how to put one of these bearing units on, so doing the reverse should get it off, right? But I need a steel rod of some kind to hammer on to get the collar off. We go to church and after church stop at the True Value and get a “banging” tool.
Monday. OK, I’m ready. I take my banging tool and my hammer. All girls need tools like hammers, screwdrivers, pillars, drills, saws, etc., right Dad? I bang it 2 or 3 times like my consultant said in the direction I think it should go according to the catalog. Well, nothing, so I try the other way 2 or 3 times. I really know this is the wrong way so go back to the first way, but get my wonderful (and old) red marker and mark the shaft where the hole is. Then I start pounding on it. Did it move? Or was that my imagination? I repositioned the drive shaft and rechecked my red mark. I think it did move. So I pound again and YES! - it moved. And if I hit it a bit to the left it comes off. I’m screaming for joy. I think the neighbors could have heard me and they are across the road and down the street.
Now to get the bearing off, I take my trusty hammer and whack on it and whack in it and it starts to move. I need Ken to come and help me since there are metal parts in the way of getting it off, but we do. Now where do I find one of these things? We look at the catalog page and measure this and that. So where’s the phone book? Aha! And I let my fingers do the walking. I make a couple of calls and they send me to a place that sells bearings. I call them and ask if I can bring this in and they can help me know what I have. Sure thing, they’ll do that. Since Ken does not want to miss the excitement, he comes too. The place is 25 miles from home, so off we go. They have the bearings in stock, but are nice enough to clean up the one I have, and the guy says he really didn’t think it was too bad, but I get the new one anyway. The drive is worth getting it. We get home and back out to the mill and get the new bearings on the machines. Get the drive shaft back in position and get the motor hooked up to it. It works!!!!! So on go the sprockets and gears. It seems to be running. Its 5 pm, time to quit for the day.
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Tuesday. Now I hate to waste the machine’s time just watching it run, so I put some rovings that are waiting to spin on the machines. 15 minutes and running, 30 minutes and running, then GRIND and HALT. NOOOOOOO!!!!
Take the gears off. Still grinding. OK, my consultant said it could also be the first bearings on the shaft. At least that is easier to get to and I’ve done it before. Off comes the motor driver and now for the bearings. I get the collar off with a bit of effort and the bearing was a bit harder that the other one. These things are original to the machines and the machine is at least 30 years old, but likely older. I have to go to town to teach so I go early and get another bearing.
Wednesday. I get the new bearing on with Ken’s help. (Remember the drive shaft is heavy.) Get the motor on and all is good. We are running again. I’m ready to spin again and so I get the machines running. 15 minutes and running, 30 minutes and running, then GRIND and HALT. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back on the phone. They only thing left is the bearing inside the motor. We are not talking a little motor here; this thing is a 3 HP 3-phase heavy dude. And it is hanging onto a steel plate in mid air.
Thursday. Ken and I get some 2x4’s to put it on and start taking it apart. Well, getting to the bearing at the one end is easy, but we need the other end. Sound familiar? After several tries of getting off, we finally succeed and I go back to town to get this new bearing carrying the case it sits in to get help getting the old one out. (These people are really very nice to this crazy lady who needs bearings.) I get it home and we put it in and get the motor all back together again. Then we get it mounted, no small feat. There is a scraping noise, but it should run quiet. OK, turn the power off again. Adjust a few things. Turn it on again and OHO, the inverter is not working. This is the new replacement one. No display, no nothing. My consultant (don’t ask how many calls I made) says try the old one. OK, Ken puts the old one in and it works. While I’m at class that night Ken finishes the wiring.
Friday (Feb 20). We look at the motor again and get the idea of “building” a table under it so we don’t have to lift it. We get a pretty good table built inside the spinner frame and it is about ¼ to ½ inch short. That we can work with. Off comes the motor again, several times, as we try to find the scraping noise. I think it’s at one end and Ken thinks it at the other. Start eliminating things. We find it. But we can not put the end housing on all the way. It was causing the shaft to not line up correctly. OK, at last the motor is running and quiet. Add the drive shaft, test, good. Add the gears, test, good. We keep running for the next 4 hours without a problem and it’s time for dinner.
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Are we done yet? No, one more week of fun still ahead.
Monday. I had called the place I got the new inverter from and said there was a problem with it. They want us to put it back on and check a few things. OK. Ken puts it back on (he’s getting really good at this by now) and well it does work! Huh? After a test run I don’t know what to think. So, being so far behind in making yarn, I put fiber on the machines and run. 35 minutes later, GRIND. It was the inverter all along! We run a few more tests for the manufacturer on Tuesday and say enough! Ken puts the original inverter back in and I have been running the last 3 days just fine.
I know this is long, but it really is how maintenance and repairs get done.
I can also say that the Carder (her name is Stella) had a complete spa day (cleaning) on Friday (27th). We, Nadine and I, strip off the rollers and belts and chain drives and clean everything off, then put her all back together again. It’s a greasy job, but Stella loves all the attention.
We have now also named the spinner: her name is Betsy and she is running beautifully.
Thanks for laughing.
Take care and talk to you soon.
Barbara
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02/02/09:
Hi All,
It’s been a pretty normal month. No fancy yarns to talk about. I have finished several of my knitting projects, YEAH!!
My trip north was good. I saw several people to drop off orders and pick up others, one in the snow on Sunday, brrr. But by Monday, the weather was clear, with blue skies and sunshine to drive home in. In our family we count volcanoes when we travel, and it was a 5 volcano weekend: Hood, Rainier, & Baker (going and returning), St. Helens & Adams (returning, fogged in going).
I was asked to be the Vendor Coordinator for AlpacaPalooza, so that will be fun. So yes, I will be there. :)
My class (teaching) at the college started this month and is going well. That is always nice too.
Well, Ken just reminded me I have soup to make today, so I’d better get that started before I get out to the mill.
Take care.
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12/31/08:
Happy New Year!!!!!
WOW!!! 2008 is at an end and what an end we have had. We only got a dusting of snow, but mornings were in the teens and afternoons not much better. It was cold in the mill. Monday night the Coquille River crested above flood level and the whole valley is flooded. This happens each year, the valley flooding that is, but this time our property was at the edge of the valley “Lake”. The road to town was also closed for awhile. It’s receding now. We also had a big tree come down, but it hit only a fence. Lucky!
This month has been slow in the mill. The cold does not help, but we have a new heater that works great and makes working easier.
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In the last blog, I was starting on a Suri run. Got that finished and am now back to Huacaya.
At the first of the month, I was finishing up some fun yarn that is white with bits of dyed colors in it. I’ve started a project on the knitting machines with it and like it. I made my older daughter a knitted then felted hat with blue eye lash accent yarn and a purple sparkly scarf for the holidays. She loved them and so do her friends. I’ve also started a weaving project and I’m still working on a lace shawl and have a couple of other scarves that I’ve finished. Sometimes I’m not working with fiber, really.
The bad thing that happened was our mill washing machine died. We use it to spin only and it was used. It gave it’s all for us, so now I’m looking for a new machine. Of course it died on a full wash day, meaning 6 sinks filled with fiber. Nadine moved the wash to the house to use the house machine to finish the washing.
I’m heading north at the end of January and already have several stops to see people along the way.
Well, that is about all for now.
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12/01/08:
Greetings from the Mill,
Our older daughter has been telling me for a long while that I need to have a blog about what is happening in the mill, so here is the start of it.
This is December 1st, 2008, just to have a reference point. It has been one year since we moved to the new mill and farm. The mill is running really well. My employee, Nadine, and I fly through fiber and are getting it into yarn quickly. One of the last orders we did before Thanksgiving was finished in 5 weeks.
This past month has been busy, we had an open house on the 21st and 22nd, so we cleaned up all the corners that hadn’t been done since we moved in. We also dyed fiber into purple, three blues, green, yellow, and red. The yarn is beautiful and we had fun doing something besides natural colors. I even made something with the spinning bits that were leftover, I blended bits of color with white fiber as it was going through the Pin Drafter and the yarn has color here and there. I’ve started knitting with it and it’s going to be very cool.
The open house was great. Many local people that we have met this year came and they now understand what I mean when I say “I make yarn”.
We have also had numerous orders for knitted scarves this fall. The most fun was purple sparkles in a lace pattern. I’m actually making two more to sell.
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I’ve been looking at the list of shows for this spring and starting to make my plans to attend three of them. Last spring I did 5 shows in 6 weekends. I was a bit weary from all the coming and going, so a few less this spring will be good.
For those that know me, I can not just do one thing at a time. Last time Ken asked how many projects I was working on the answer was 7. Two looms have projects on them, and 5 knitting projects are under way. Some have to wait until customer orders are done and some are gifts, but there is always something to do when I’m not in the mill.
I’m working on a few new ideas for items that we can make from your yarn and I’m hoping to have the samples done by January.
On the personal side, I have also been teaching a math class at the local college this quarter and will do one next quarter as well. It gives me something very different to do than fiber arts. I’m also the Youth Education Director at our church and Teen Sponsor. I love working with the young people. This also includes going to a Retreat with them this spring (that's why only three shows). To raise money, the three teens, with another adult and I, made 50 dozen cookies on Friday. What fun we had. We sold out and now need to bake some more.
I will try my best to get to the blog each month if not more often. Well, it time to get to the suri that is waiting for me to card this week.
Have a great day and week,
Barbara
