Saturday, September 1, 2012

Patchwork yarn pre-order sale/fundraiser


I know it can be hard to grab a skein of my patchwork handspun yarn, since it usually sells out within a few days of a shop update, and I don't usually update more than twice a month at best. I do take requests for colorways - if you contact me saying you want a specific patchwork colorway & how many skeins, I get back to you when I have that colorway ready to list again, with pictures and details, so that you can have them listed reserved for you if you'd like. However, this takes a while unless I happen to already have the fiber dyed and ready to go in that colorway, sometimes as much as a few months. Well, now's your chance: I've decided to offer custom requests for my patchwork yarns spun from lofty minimally processed merino cross wool at a really really good price, with the goal of fundraising money to get some farm projects done.


You can pre-order any repeatable patchwork colorway or Yarnbow self-striping yarn for $30 per skein for the next few days (until wednesday Sept. 5th) OR until all custom spinning spots are full. I'm going to cut this off at a certain number of skeins in order to make sure I can get it done in a reasonable amount of time and don't get too overwhelmed - I do have a few pregnant goats due in a month, after all. I'm setting aside the month of september to spin these custom requests so that I can get them dyed, spun, and shipped before my goats kid. Shipping is a flat $4 per order, no matter how many skeins are in that order.


The temporary pre-order shop is here. To order multiple skeins in one colorway, just add the colorway to your cart, click "go to cart", and then adjust the quantity there. If you'd prefer to order through etsy, you can contact me through my etsy shop and let me know which colorway(s) and how many skeins you want and I'll make you a reserved listing.

Patchwork yarns are usually around 130-200 yds per 3.5-4 oz skein, worsted to bulky weight, and they are normally priced at $36-$42 per skein plus shipping. They will be spun from merino x wool from DHF farm in the falkland islands - their sheep are mostly merino with a small percentage of corriedale, so the wool is super soft and lofty but with a longer staple length for a sturdier, better wearing yarn. They don't use any herbicides, pesticides, dips, footbaths or regular injections on their sheep, and no bleach or other chemicals in the processing of the wool - so it is, according to them, some of the purest, cleanest wool you will find on the planet. There are 16 different colors in each patchwork colorway, and they knit up in tweedy stripes. You can see examples of how they knit either in my previous blog posts about them or on the Ravelry projects page for my patchwork yarns. I will also have a new blog post showcasing some of my favorite projects made from my patchwork yarns in a few days - I realized that it's been almost 3 YEARS since I posted finished object pictures, and there have been lots of awesome projects in the meantime, including these fingerless knits I knit for myself from the Lirael colorway:


lirael fingerless mitts

lirael fingerless mitts


Also, for those who have been asking, my goats milk soaps made with milk from my little herd, essential oils, and herbs will be done curing in about a week, so I will be listing them on etsy soon. I think this may be my first official "farm product".

goats milk soaps


goats milk soaps





2 comments:

Mindfulknitter said...

Do you think you will be doing this again any time soon in 2013?

folktale fibers said...

Not anytime soon, perhaps not even in 2013. I need a minimum order amount to consider doing it again, but if you email me your email address (folktalefibers at gmail.com) I will add you to the list of people to contact to see if there is enough interest when I decide to do this again. It's possible that I could decide to do this sooner if I really want/need to raise money for a farm project again.