Herders to Home 2024: Luxury Mongolian Yarn and Fiber

October Production Update!
3 days ago – Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 05:39:43 AM

Hey Everybody,

Sorry for the extended radio silence! I finally got to the factory to get some photos for an update. Long story short, everything is going smoothly and most of the yarn is skeined up. The next and final steps will be the labeling and packing. It looks like everything will get wrapped up next month, but I don't have an exact deadline yet. That being said, it's been quite a few years since we've exported before the holiday season, so I'm not exactly sure how the export/shipping schedule will look like quite yet. I'll have more info with that in the next update once I have an exact finish date from the factory and have spoken with DHL.

But on to some photos!

That's about what I've got to share! I hope you're all enjoying the new colors. 

A few housekeeping notes:

Surveys

If you'd like to check your survey to remember what you've ordered or if you have yet to complete your survey, you can get back to it here. If you have any issues, please send an email to [email protected].

Final Add Ons

If you'd like to add on more items, I will do one final sale for you at Kickstarter prices before we do the final shipping, which will hopefully be sometime in December.

Address Changes

Also before final shipping, there will be a notice sent out to lock your shipping address. If you need to change it, waiting for that notice will be easiest. If you'd like to do it now, you can go back to your survey and change your address there. Here's the link to get back to your survey. Please note, I will need to change the address personally if the shipping state has also changed.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns in general, please send me an email at [email protected]. I'll try to have more definite dates and timelines for export and final shipping in the next update, probably around the beginning of November.

THANK YOU!

-Jon

Everything is dyed, just spinning and skeining left!
about 1 month ago – Wed, Sep 11, 2024 at 03:55:41 AM

Hey Everybody,

There's been quite a bit of progress in the last few weeks so I wanted to post an update with some photos. As it is now, everything is out of dyeing and getting into spinning. The cashmere is also getting split up into 100g hanks for the final skeining and labeling.

Here's a quick clip fo the robin's egg cashmere getting hanked up!

Here are some other yarn and fiber pics. Please keep in mind these are in the factory where lighting isn't great and I'm not going through huge effort to color correct these photos, so please expect some differences in real life!

Our Evergreen yak wool is currently getting carded in the first stage of processing.

Our mahogany yak wool is just getting started today. Here's a very quick clip of it getting ready for the spinning oils:

I'm hoping to get some nice videos of the entire process this season. I'm still hoping to capture the plying process and a bit of the handwork in the skein twisting and labeling.

Our mulberry yak is already all spun up as well!

The only colors left to start the spinning are the gold and moss camel wool as well as the aegean sea sheep blend. We should be all yarn in the next week or two!

We're definitely ahead of schedule but it's a bit too early to give a more definite updated delivery window. Everything should be a bit more clear by the end of the month or so and I will update everybody with our estimates then.

Backerkit and Address Changes

Surveys are all locked and have been charged for any addons. The next step of the process will be locking addresses for delivery, which will happen a few weeks before we are ready to deliver. If you need to change your address, you can do it anytime by going back into your survey, or you can wait until the delivery time is a bit more final and do it then. There will be plenty of warning time and reminder emails when we are ready to lock addresses.

If you have not received your survey, please email me at [email protected]. Backerkit seems to have issues with apple private relay addresses, so please email me if you used one for this project and haven't received a survey yet.

If you'd like to get back to your survey to see what you've ordered, you can always get back to your survey by following this link: Backerkit

But I think that's it for now! I'll post another update when there's more yarn to show off and we have a more definite picture of when things might be ready to export from Mongolia. If you have any questions or issues, please send me an email at [email protected]

Thank you!

-Jon

August Production Update and Backerkit Lock/Charge Dates
about 2 months ago – Mon, Aug 26, 2024 at 07:09:35 AM

Hey Everybody,

Sorry for the delay in updates but I was waiting for a fiber processing and deliveries to finish before sending out an email. In short, we've already got all of our cashmere spun up and we've received all of our fiber! I was checking last year's dates and we didn't get our sheep and yak wool until October, so we're definitely well ahead of schedule.

Here's a few more shots of our cashmere, although it's really difficult to get the Azalea to show up properly in photos! It's still right on with our planned swatches.

The plying into our weights and handwork to make the 100g skeins and labeling will come next.

As for the other fibers, this was our yak wool and camel wool. The ring of fibers!

The dyeing started for the gold camel today, which will be followed by moss camel, then the sheep wool blends, then the yak wools. I'll have plenty of pictures for those as they come out. I'll also have more pictures/videos of manufacturing as the other fibers get into spinning tomorrow (for the dark chocolate yak wool) and camel wools to follow.

All of our labels are also ready, waiting to hug their skeins!

Backerkit Lock and Charge Dates

We're still on track to finalize orders on Backerkit on August 30th. There will be a 72 hour email going out from Backerkit tomorrow and we will finalize orders and charge credit cards for any addons that were made. If you did not select any addons, there will be no further charges to your card.

If you would like to get back to your survey to make any changes, you can follow the link here. If you have any issues with your survey, please send me at email at [email protected].

But that's about it from me! I'll have another update in a couple of weeks after all of our dyeing has finished up and can show off the rest of our colors. Historically, getting non-cashmere fiber through processing and delivered has been the cause of most delays, so I'm quite excited that we already have everything.

THANK YOU!

-Jon

July Production Update
3 months ago – Thu, Aug 01, 2024 at 03:52:22 AM

Hey Everybody,

It's been a few weeks and wanted to share some pictures and videos of the spinning and dehairing process for our cashmere and yak wool, as well as update on getting some extra yak wool for another batch run of Mulberry and Natural Platinum Gray to add to this year's selection.

Mulberry and Platinum Gray Yak

Long story short, we will be making another batch of the Mulberry this year, but I could not get anymore platinum gray fiber.

I apologize for the confusion with these two options. I still had extra inventory from 2023 that I wanted to offer, but in retrospect I probably should have just left them off the campaign as 'available stock' as there wasn't enough to go around, especially for the Mulberry. It's something I'll need to figure out a solution for in the future so I can still offer past stock for Kickstarter selections.

For the Mulberry, I was able to pull enough fiber from the Evergreen and Mahogany batches to make a Mulberry batch in DK and Fingering. I was unable to source anymore fiber in general, and without having any gray this year to begin with there isn't anything I can do for the platinum. Again I apologize if you were completely set on that color. If there's nothing else you'd like in replacement, please send me an email at [email protected].

If you'd like to add the mulberry to your survey, you can visit the link here to get back to your survey.

Spinning and Dehairing

Our cashmere is already being spun up into yarn! Here's the first steps with the carding machine and a bit of spinning in the end. After this will be plying, although we weren't quite there yet when I was there.

Here's the warm gray cashmere:

Here's the dark chocolate yak in dehairing. From start to end you can see the difference in the amount of dandruff/organic matter/guard hair in the fiber. The dehairing process is practically a repeating process of drums and combs to separate the waste and guard hair from the fluffy stuff we use.

The camel would should be getting into dehairing shortly, followed by the sheep wool later this month.

Backerkit Lock and Charge Date

If you'd like to make changes or add on to your survey, there's still time to do so. We will lock survey choices and charge cards for any add-ons on August 30th. I will send a 72 hour reminder as well.

If you didn't make any add-ons, there will be no further charges made. If you'd like to get back to your survey, please follow the link here.

Here is an updated list of available options. There is no longer platinum gray yak or autumn teal cashmere available.

But that's about it for me! As always, feel free to write an email to [email protected] with any questions or if you are having issues with backerkit or your survey. I'll post another update when we have our dyed yak wool in hopefully a couple of weeks!

Thank you!

Jon

Backerkit Surveys Coming Soon!
3 months ago – Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 08:47:59 AM

Hey Everybody,

Backerkit Surveys will start going out after I post this update. First, a small number of people (5%) will receive surveys that are used as a smoke test to make sure I put everything together correctly. If there aren't any issues, the rest of the surveys will go out about 24 hours after this update is sent.

If you haven't received your survey by Thursday, July 18th at 11:00 EST, please check your spam/junk/promotional folders in your email. If it still can't be located, please send me an email at [email protected] and we will get it figured out!

Available Options and Colors

While Backerkit is easy to use, the amount of colors and options we have available can be a bit much! Here's a photo with all colors together as well as a spreadsheet that has the different weights.

Items marked with a asteriks (*) denote production from 2023.

Backerkit FAQ

• When adding on packages in Backerkit, you will be asked to select your colors/weights AFTER leaving the add-on page. When in doubt, just keep clicking next!
• You will be prompted to select your weights and colors for each individual skein. For example, if you select a 800g cashmere package, you will need to select the weight/color option 8 times. On a computer, there will be a menu on the right side that shows which skein you're on to keep track/go back and make changes if needed. On mobile, you can find this list by clicking the '# of #' text between "next" and "previous"
• I'm planning to lock Backerkit orders and charge cards for added on items around August 20th. I'll send out updates and emails with plenty of warning for that date

Platinum Gray and Mulberry Baby Yak Wool

Although these were listed as being at limited quanities for choices this season, I'm a bit lower on stock than I was anticipating as we're about to open up Backerkit. I'm attempting to find some more baby yak wool to do another batch of each this year, but I won't have a final answer on it until middle of next week or so. It's possible these will be hidden soon on Backerkit as my current stock sells, but I will send an update next week to announce if there will be a restock or not. I'm about 80% sure we'll be able to get more wool! You can always go back and change your yarn choices at a later date. If this creates a huge issue for you that can't be changed out for different colors, please send me an email at [email protected]

Spinning Fiber Bags

For those purchasing spinning fiber bags in Backerkit, please do so BEFORE August 1st. As the fiber for bags needs to be selected before spinning starts for the yarn and it's not possible to add orders after spinning starts, these counts need to be finalized first. I won't be able to guarantee inventory for fiber bag selections not made before August 1st.

Production Update

Everything still going as planned, but not a lot to share or report at the moment as things really slow down during the Naadam break. Our yak wool is starting to be dehaired tomorrow and I'll be visiting the factory for some pictures of that. Our cashmere is finished with dyeing and at the spinning factory, so I'm also planning to stop over there tomorrow and get some pictures and videos of the process while I'm in the industry area. 

That's about it for me! I'll be in touch again in the next week or so to share pictures and videos of dehairing and spinning. Please feel free to send me an email at [email protected] with any questions!

Thank you!

Jon