About KnoxFarmFiber

KnoxFarmFiber is the producer of hand-spun yarn made from the fleece of animals who live at Knox Farm State Park in East Aurora, New York. The yarn and other items, such as hats and scaves knitted from the yarn, plus Beginners Knitting Kits plus plain and dyed roving are for sale at the Gift Shop.

Sheep, llamas and goats are the fiber animals who live at Knox Farm State Park. Their fleece can be used to make a variety of yarns. The sheep are sheared once a year in the Spring. The llamas and goats are sheared more often. The fleece is washed, carded, handspun and then left its natural creamy color or dyed in an environmentaly sensitive process. All of the work is done by volunteers and by hand, much of it at the Park. Look for drying fleece set out in the sun on screens in the late Spring In the Fall you may find pots of dye-stuff simmering in a solar box.

We hope you like our yarn. If you have never worked with handspun before, you are in for a surprise. Handspun yarn differs from sheep-to-sheep and from spinner-to-spinner. Some of the fiber is left as its natural creamy color, and some is dyed. Some yarns are uneven. Some will be soft, others more coarse. You may even find bits of straw still in the yarn.

We wind our yarns into one or two ounce skeins or 28-30 yards per ounce. Most of the yarn is two-ply bulky weight and can be knit at a gauge of 3 stitches to 3.5 stitches to the inch.

Please handwash our yarns gently in cool water. If you insist on soap, use a mild shampoo. Dry flat. Wind the skeins into loose balls before knitting and keep a large gauge so that the yarn will not be choked.

NOTE: Do not use our wool or yarn for felting projects. Our wool will not felt by hand, but SOME may felt with repeated agitation and hot water in a washing machine. Jill Sessa of Looped Back has great success with a front-loading machine.

We want you to be happy with our yarns! Please tell us what you think. E-mail Judith Bunn at jbunn_2000@yahoo.com or call me at 716 480 0086.