Spinning Milkweed

Well call me crazy but I like to work with different fibers. Samantha and I harvested the seed pods from the milk weed plants at a friends house. We brought home a full bucket full. Soon after we found out that Sam is allergic to milk weed. So the job of plucking the seeds from the fluff became mine alone. As the pods were still green it was easier to pull the seeds off then put the wet fluff into plastic freezer bags. Well this took several days to finish and I found that the first bag became moldy due to the bag getting closed and sealed. The rest however I left open and continued to rotate the fiber in the bag daily to get it to dry. Last night I took the drum carder outside and alternately carded wool and milkweed into bats. It is too short and too slippery to spin by itself. Tonight I hope to find time to spin some of the milkweed and wool. My plan is to dye it. I have read that the milkweed doesn't take the dye so it leaves shiny white streaks in the yarn. I will post photos when I get some yarn made. Sheri

3rd Generation Fiber farm

Alli, Samantha and I have been working on a fiber business for about a year now. We started by working with Angora rabbits. Angora is soft and beautiful. Both girls have learned to spin and make beautiful yarn. This summer Alli added an angora goat and a pair of Shetland Sheep to our fiber animals. This fall we took in Natalie's Romney sheep (Violet) until she can get her own place to keep her and then just last week we took in an angora goat wether (Darby) from Tina Cameron.

A phone call to Grandma Bellairs a couple months ago brought on the name change from Bellairs Rabbitry to Bellairs Fiber Farm and Rabbitry. The Bellairs have had a fiber farm for years but Grandma could no longer keep the business going after her stroke. She was excited when she found out that the girls wanted to take the name and put it together with their fiber endeavors. The girls have a lot to learn from Grandma and are eager to keep the fiber business going.

With the fiber from the animals we are making lots of beautiful items. The yarns are gorgeous, warm and soft. We have wool blends with angora, alpaca and mohair. Our Etsy store is up and running and doing good business. Another product we are unveiling is goats milk soap. This is a wonderful homemade blend that is all natural and so good for your skin. Check out our website and Etsy store for our products.