By Shannon Lukens.
Yampa Valley Fiberworks has recently been named the Business of the Year at the State of the Community event for Moffat County. Lewis and Lorrae Moon are the owners and operators where they process natural fibers into yarn products.
“We take a bunch of old dirty stinkin’ sheep fleeces and make them into beautiful yarn.”
The Moons have 55 head of sheep which is where they get all of their wool. They make the yarn and it all goes back to their storefront. The facility is about nine miles north of Craig at 41180 North Hwy 13.
People also send them natural fibers from sheep, alpaca, llama, buffalo, yak, and goat.
“We have customers from all over the United States that ship stuff to us. Tell us how they want it processed. We process it and ship it back to them.”
Yampa Valley Fiberworks has been in operation for a little over ten years.
Lewis gave us the tour. After hand sorting the wool, they wash two and a half pounds of it at a time in 160 degree water. They soak, agitate, spin, rinse, and pull apart, and repeat. The sheep wool is washed three to five times.
The wool then dries for 18 to 24 hours on a dry rack.
It then goes to the picker which opens it up and blends it.
After that, it’s the carder, which lines the fibers and has them all going in the same direction.
The pin drafter combs the wool three times and coils it into a can. It ends up weighing 1.5 ounces for ten yards.
The hand spinners make the yarn on a roving machine. This is wool fiber that has been processed but not yet spun into yard. A spinning frame can spin the different yarn into different sizes. There are 1,200 different gear combinations.
Moon’s favorite wool is from a Bluefaced Leicester, which is a longwool breed of sheep.
He says that while some people may be allergic to wool, they typically aren’t allergic to his wool since it is made without chemicals.