Spinning a Good Yarn with Carole Woodgate

by Christy

In a recent search for unique, quality yarn to make a couple new knitting projects, and feeling utterly dismayed by what the mass-market craft shops lacked in offerings, I started searching off the beaten path a little. I found a couple of specialty knitting stores in the area, and then I came across Fine Fibers. Located on the outskirts of Rochester in Spencerport, NY, Fine Fibers is a mohair goat farm. Since 1986, Paul and Carole Woodgate have operated the farm (and by operated, I mean, that’s when they bought their first two goats). They have a shop on the farm where visitors can check out their yarns, some finished goods, and even roving for the more ambitious who want to spin their yarn themselves.

On a very unwintery night in January, I pointed my VW out of the city, and made my way to the Fine Fibers farm/shop. They have converted part of their home into the shop, and it was there that I sat down with Carole and got to know her and her business. Surrounded by a brilliant rainbow of mohair and merino yarns, the first thing I had to do was set down my bag, take off my coat, and touch the yarns. They beg to be held and pondered as you envision sweaters, blankets, and hats emerging from these 8-ounce twists of yarn. Heavenly! My search for fine yarns was over.

I had so much to ask Carole, and I am such a novice knitter that I was not sure I was going to ask the right questions. But all that was set aside as we sat together and had a relaxing conversation about what it is that they do day in and day out on the farm, and how it is you go from sheared goat hair to yarn.

My first questions for Carole revolved around some of the vocabulary of the fiber trade. I had seen the terms roving and fleece on their website and they sell both at their store, so I was curious about what they are and how they differ. Carole explained to me that fleece is what you have right after you shear the goats. "It’s the wooly hair of the mohair goat, and there are three categories of fleece. Kid fleece is shorn from a goat less than a year old, doe fleece is from an adult female, and buck fleece is from an adult male goat." Each vary in texture and weight. Someone interested in buying fleece is interested in preparing the fiber for spinning, including scouring, extracting, carding, blending, and spinning. "We also sell roving here, which has been scoured, carded, and in some cases blended and is ready to spin."

When I asked about the genesis of Fine Fibers, Carole explained very honestly, "It was kind of like this business outgrew a hobby. In 1986, Paul decided that since we had non-tillable pastures out back, and all they did was grow and we couldn’t mow them that he would get some goats to keep the pastures trimmed down." That year Paul purchased two doe mohair goats. The following year he bought a buck and another doe. Nature has since run its course and from those humble beginnings they now have a herd of about 45 goats on their farm.

With the history established, I was curious what the next step was that put them on the path to producing yarn and selling it in the shop. "I’m wondering what the progression was from, ‘We’re buying goats to tend our pastures,’ to this?" as I gestured to the shop and yarns surrounding us.

"Well, I’m going to say in about 1998 or ’99, we had an excess of fleece. So we decided it was time to learn to spin." Paul’s love is for the animals and his talent lies in caring for them and in the dyeing process; Carole is the crafter in the duo, having crocheted for years, so she was the one who signed up for spinning classes at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. "The funny thing was, the teacher didn’t think I would ever learn to spin." Carole explained that it’s been concluded that if you’re musically inclined, you’ll pick up spinning easier because it’s one part coordination and two parts rhythm. You keep one rhythm with your feet and another with your hands. What she actually did was learn the procedure well enough to teach Paul how to spin (who plays piano) and then he could take the extra time needed to teach Carole how to spin thoroughly. "Now it’s just something I can do and it’s a very relaxing process."

She hasn’t done much spinning since the shop opened four years ago, plus the volume of materials she would have to spin now would be overwhelming. They shear the goats twice a year, once in March and once in September. "Is there any difference between the two coats?," I asked.

"Not in texture, but in color a little, yes. The spring coat is a little darker because they’ve been in the barn for most of the winter on the hay." The Woodgates used to shear the goats back when it was a herd of four, but now they have a professional shearer come in who can do the whole herd in a day. "Goats are not like sheep; you can plunk a sheep down on its rear and for the most part it will sit there while you shear it. Not so with goats. They are a little nervous of the noise the shearing clippers make, and they tend to squirm around a bit while you’re shearing them. But it’s so much better for them to get shorn. They feel much better after a shearing and they would have problems with their skin if we didn’t shear them."

Carole also told me you can expect to get 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of fleece from a kid, 5 to 5 1/2 pounds from a doe, and about 6 pounds from a buck. Even averaging out the low numbers and multiplying by 45, you come up with 202 pounds of fleece. Think about having 200 pounds of cotton balls! That’s a lot of fleece, and that is why they ship the fleece off to a custom spinning house to be carded, blended, spun, and plied (if desired). "One processor will scour, card, and blend the fleece and make roving, which is sometimes where we stop the process so we can stock our spinner’s corner of the shop. Then we ship the roving to another processor who spins and plies the yarn."

"And how long after you ship the fleece out does it take to get it back from the spinners?"

"Well, we just got a shipment back, and that is yarn from the spring’s clip that is just now spun. So it takes about nine to ten months. Of course, that depends on how backed up the mills are, but generally that’s about how long it takes. And that’s through a custom spinner, because the large spinning houses won’t do anything smaller than 1,000 pounds of fleece."

She had mentioned blending a few times, so I was curious what kinds of blends they had, and why it was necessary. "Mohair itself has no elasticity, it has no memory, so if you knit up a sweater and stretch the sweater, the fabric will just stay stretched out. Our favorite blend is 80% mohair, 20% wool." The Woodgates do carry some 50-50 blends, and all of their yarn that’s blended is with the highest quality of wool, the merino wool.

Speaking of differences between wools and mohair, some other advantages to knitting with mohair yarns is its resistance to soil. "I had just gotten one of my sweaters back from the cleaners and the first time I was wearing it I spilled a little coffee on it. I went to work on the spot and it came right out." Carole does recommend dry cleaning for finished products made from their yarns, but she told me about a wool cleaning product for use at home--you just need to lay the item flat to dry. Mohair is a very strong fiber, it is resistant to wrinkles and shrinkage, doesn’t pill like wool, and is non-flammable.

Personally, my favorite characteristic of the mohair is the look of the finished yarn. I exclaimed to Carole at first inspection of the yarns, "There’s almost a sateen finish to this, the light is beautifully reflected off the twists and turns of the yarns." It is some of the softest yarn I’ve felt as well, truly a gorgeous product. Carole’s favorites of the yarns they make are the bright colors. "My favorite aspects of this business are seeing the colors Paul can come up with--that’s just fun!--and I like interacting with the people who come in the store."

I have been wary of buying yarns from online stores because it’s such a tactile process, but I would recommend Fine Fibers’ yarn without hesitation. If you don’t live in the Rochester area, and would still like to see some samples of their yarns, you can order sample swatches. For $2.50, you can get a sample of a category of yarns (for example, call Carole and tell her you’re interested in her chunky yarns only). That will get you a sample of natural yarns, and for another $2.50, she’ll send out their sample colors in the same category. For only $10, she’ll make up swatches of all their yarns in both natural and color. In the near future, Carole hopes to have e-Commerce functionality on their website, but until then, feel free to give her a call to place any orders. She will be more than happy to field any questions over the phone and fill orders that way. Look for their email address, phone number, and address on the Contact page of the Fine Fibers website.

I can’t wait to get started on my new mohair sweater! I’m flying through my alpaca scarf so I can get on to this new project. I know as I knit it I will think on all the work that went into producing this lovely yarn; from the quality care the goats were provided, to the expert blending of the fibers, to the development and creation of the rich, vibrant colors. I will appreciate my final product that much more for having taken the time to find a quality yarn, produced by quality people.

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