Herders to Home - Luxury Mongolian Yarn and Fiber

A request for help from my Yak Yarn Backers!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 10:27:55 PM

Hey guys,

Due to a small hiccup, the order that I had for the milk chocolate brown DK and Fingering were actually switched at the factory, so I'm a tiny bit short on the fingering weight, and a bit heavy on the DK.

I'm short *15* skeins of the fingering weight chocolate brown. Could I please bribe any of you guys into swapping to DK instead, or switching colors to Dark Chocolate Fingering? I'll gladly give you a bonus 100g skein on top of the replacement for any one you agree to swap out, or just let me know and I'll change the bonus skein(s) to anything else you'd like.

But yea! If you're willing to help, just send me a message or leave a comment if you'd like the DK or Dark Chocolate fingering instead, and also with the bonus skeins that you want. I'll add them directly to your order.

If you aren't sure what you've got ordered exactly but open to helping, just leave a comment or send me a message and I'll check your order. If you have the light yak fingering, I'll touch base with you directly and figure out how best to swap things out.

Thanks for any help, as every skein counts! In other news, everything is on the plane heading to Pittsburgh, so we're still on track to start sending things out around the end of next week! As always, please feel free to holler with any questions.

-Jon

Awaiting departure from Mongolia, and locking addresses!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 09:26:22 PM

Hey everybody,

Everything is all wrapped up in boxes and ready to get shipped to America! Waiting for the final green light from DHL in the states, then hopefully the pickup can be scheduled for tomorrow and it'll be on its way, hopefully ending up in America by the middle of next week. If all goes as planned, the yarn and fiber should beat me home by a day or two, working out perfectly.

Last year we only had 17 boxes, so a lot more this year for sure! It's going to be tight in my basement back home, but it should move out a lot easier this year with the tags and labels being attached at the factory.

As we're getting close to printing shipping labels, I'm going to send out a notice to lock addresses on backerkit. If you need to make any changes, just follow the instructions in the email you get. If you have any issues, holler at me and we'll figure it out!

Ok, I'm super happy, excited, nervous, and stressed all mixed into one, getting so close! Expect another  formal kickstarter update from me before I leave Mongolia. Now that I have the final numbers of everything produced, I need to update my website with remaining inventory. That will give everybody one last chance to purchase more yarn or fiber if your project ideas have changed!

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you!

Jon

Yarn pics, getting close!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 10, 2019 at 01:06:18 AM

Hey everybody,

Not too much to update other than sending a bunch of pictures. The yarn is almost done, just need to wind the last bit of fingering weight and our lace weight into skeins. The skeining is taking longer than anticipated, but everything is still in order to start delivery at the beginning of next month. I think the women there are also doing an exceptional job at the winding and finishing work, especially considering this is new for all of us. I was sure to express my gratitude today when I saw the amount of work and also the finished product.

Although a bit more expensive for me, I've decided to actually ship out from America, as it's going to be a lot easier to manage inventory after the Kickstarter distribution. I've booked my ticket, so I'll be back stateside on October 31st, and then shipping will start as soon as my jetlag is manageable ;) I'm hoping to ship everything out of Mongolia by the end of next week so it will be waiting for me at home when I get there, ready to go!

OKOK, pics! This is all the DK weight. Again, really happy with how everything came out this year! I had imagined a little bit more from the labels, but I think they'll grow on me. Also, the dark choco yak is all good, I just forgot to grab a sample of it at the factory.

Alright, so, soon! I'll be starting to lock down addresses as soon as everything gets on it's way to America. You'll get an email with instructions on how to change your address when that email goes out. I'll also have a chance for one last round of add-ons before everything goes out, but I need to get everything out of production and figure out exactly what I have in inventory so I don't over extend myself. Last year I ended up short a couple balls of yarn at the end of things, so I want to make fully sure I don't run into a similar problem this season.

Ok that's it, thank you again! As always, holler with any questions you might have.

-Jon

Locking orders in 24 hours!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 02:11:45 AM

Hey everybody,

Just a quick one for the final call for locking orders on Backerkit, and then I'll be charging cards on Tuesday. There seemed to be a lot of issues with people not being able to get into their Backerkit from the link I used in the last update, so if you have any issues just send me a message and I'll get you a direct link to your account.

As always, feel free to holler with any questions! Thank you!

-Jon

Yarn, fiber, test results, and Backerkit charge dates!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 08:09:05 PM

Hey Everybody,

One last update here with a bunch of technical info about the yarn and fiber. All of the different yarn types are out, so I have more accurate measurements of everything. Here's the info for the three different weights:

DK - 4 ply construction - 300 yards/100g

Fingering Weight - 3 ply construction - 400 yards/100g

Lace weight - 2 ply construction - 565 yards/100g

Seeing all of the yarn closer this year, it seems like the consistency is definitely better than it was last year. It looks like the upgrades to the carding machine and equipment made a noticeable difference in the final product. I was hoping the DK would be a little thicker, and the lace would be a little longer, but I'm still happy that everything turned out as well as it did.

Now that we have all of the measurements, we are waiting for the labels to finish printing and get to Mongolia. After that, everything will get twisted into skeins, labeled, and be ready for shipping! Everything is still in order there, and we're definitely still on track for everything to be finished on time.  Here's a sample label. The label for the fiber will be similar, just with the top chopped off!

 I also ran some tests for the fiber. Some of the different shades of the fiber could be slightly different, but this is a great representation for the thickness and length of the fibers in general

Camel - 17.8 microns

Yak Wool - 19.6 microns

Cashmere - 14.93 microns (!)

Sheep Wool - 19 microns

The baby camel and yak wool are a great quality and almost exactly similar to last years yarn and fiber. Over the past year I've heard a lot of great things about the yak wool especially for making socks and its durability in general compared to the other wools. 

The cashmere came in a lot thinner than I thought this year! I was expecting around 16.5 microns or so, so coming in at under 15 microns was a real surprise. It's definitely a special batch this season, so I'm glad the extra quality can help justify the price premium compared to the other wools.

The sheep wool is also incredible as expected. To be honest, I kept this under wraps for a while until i had the fiber and results in hand because I didn't want to over promise. At that thinness, it compares to "fine" merino in its softness, so I'm pretty eager to get this out to you guys and get feedback. Generally, sheep wool in Mongolia is 30+ microns, so the herders and the co-op we're partnered with are definitely able to deliver something unique and special in this case. I'm hoping we can increase the demand for sheep wool to make more of a market for its incredible quality, even next to the more exotic choices here.

Here are some pictures of the fiber colors! Our experiment that was the light and dark melange sheep wool came out great! The dark has a ton of depth, and the light is an off-white with some strands and specs of brown every so often to add character. I wish the lighting in the factory wasn't so harsh, but it's the best I have until it's in skeins! 

Alright, I know that was a lot, but I wanted to get everything out so you could all see the different colors and yarn info to make any last minute changes on Backerkit. I'll lock orders Sunday the 15th, and then charge cards for the orders on Tuesday the 17th.

I know the shots in the factory and my apartment aren't ideal for showing colors, so if you want other pics, feel free to ask and I'll get some pics in better natural lighting and put them on our  Ravelry group. If you need to find your backerkit survey, you can go  here, enter your email, and you'll get a link sent to your email.

As always, thank you! And holler with any questions!

-Jon