Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill

A while back we stopped at Georgetown, Colorado, and I found a wonderful little quilt and yarn shop called The Quilted Purl.  There I found some beautiful yarn from Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill and was surprised to find out that this fiber mill exists right here in Granby, Colorado.

So last week I took an afternoon off and drove a mile out of town and found this little hidden gem.  The banner photo above is the pasture outside the fiber mill that houses their 40-70 alpacas.  I stopped and took a couple of photos of the herd.

Here is the entrance and a shot of the front of the building. 

Front part is their retail yarn shop with the processing plant behind it.

The retail shop is breathtaking….at least for a knitter….I spent a half-hour “petting” all the alpaca yarns and oogling the brilliant colors.

All the processing is done by the owners with a couple of dedicated helpers. They were very gracious and allowed me inside and showed me the whole process.

They have huge machinery to wash the fleece “blankets” and large drum carders. This machine combines the rovings	This machine takes the roving and makes yarn
Here the owner is threading the spools to spin several plies of yarn together to make a hank.	Here are there jars of yarn dyes
Here Linda dabs dye on a skein of bare yarn in a predetermined sequence.	After the skein is done being colored it is washed in a special solution, wrapped in Saran Wrap and microwaved to set the colors.  Not sure if this sequence is correct….but it’s something like that.

Everything is low, low tech.  After the multi-color yarns are washed several times, the skeins are put outside on the deck to dry on one of those collapsible drying racks many of us have used to dry clothes on rainy days.

                      

After drying the skein is respun to mingle the colors.

I bought my buddy, Salai, some black alpaca yarn and for myself, a skein of red and purple bulky yarn to make myself another one of those hooded cowls I like….keeps my ears and neck warm.

I had a great time browsing at Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill.  I’m going to go back for their “open knitting” sessions so I can meet some local knitters.

Remember, you are loved.
Read the story behind this saying HERE