Yarn plug

It's interesting to see his prices. I'm not sure if living in New Zealand I get a good deal on fibre or not (given that we have more sheep than people I would have thought that prices would be okay).

For 20-25 micron alpaca I have to pay NZ$10 per 100grams (about US$7) For fine merino NZ$4.50 per 100g (US$3.20) Standard corriedale NZ$3.50 per 100g (US$2.50)

That's clean, carded and dyed fibre, I can obviously get it cheaper if I am prepared to by in large quantities and do the prep work myself.

Does that compare favourably with costs in other countries or should I consider exploring the possibility of buying off shore in future?

VP

I think you will probably find that most commercial alpaca fiber comes out of South American countries and will cost about the same amount no matter where we buy it. Alpaca farming has become de rigeur lately so there is probably a growing amount of fiber coming out of places like South Africa but I don't think that will affect the average world price.

I pay about $2/oz US for superfine white alpaca, about $2.50 Australian. Fine white Merino is about $1.40/oz US, $1.80 Australian. White Corrie is $0.85/oz US, $1.10 Australian.

An ounce is ~28g, so multiplying my per-ounce prices by four for approximate equivalent costs:

$10 Australian for superfine alpaca 100g $7.20 Australian for fine white Merino 100g $4.40 Australian for white Corrie 100g

Not terribly different.

I find that I actually pay more for raw fiber than I do for processed in most cases. Shepherds in the US who raise fiber for handspinners are typicall working with small flocks and cannot realize economy of scale in their operations. They charge accordingly! A Romney ewe fleece, covered during hay season, professionally shorn and skirted, can run as much as $25 PER POUND and will usually be sold as a whole fleece only.

Having owned a sheep and boarded him out (initially in exchange for labor on the farm, later for the cost of his consumables after I had an accident and couldn't do the heavy work anymore) I understand where these prices come from. Annual upkeep on my sheep was about $200 for feed and hay.

If I send the fleece out for processing (likely, I'm getting lazy) I'll likely pay about $6/lb for processing (scouring, picking, carding up as roving or pulling as tops), plus shipping from the shepherd to the processor and from the processor to me.

But.

I tend to buy fiber locally when possible. I've learned who the good shepherds are within about a half day's drive, and I'll buy several fleeces at once. When I have 6-8 fleeces stockpiled I stuff them into a bag and send them off for processing, then I have more spinning fiber than I know what to do with for the next several years :D When I do this I end up paying an average of about $14/lb for purchasing, round-trip shipping and processing.

And of course, if I do the processing myself I can calculate the cost of my hot water, my detergent, my time, the wear and tear on my carding equipment, etc etc etc. I figure that each of my two handspun sweaters have an equivalent value of about $1500 when I factor in fiber production cost, fiber cost, shearing, processing, spinning and knitting time.

Good Heavens! A daughter in Wales has rare breed sheep of several colours and including Ryelands. She can't sell her fleeces economically, nor has she time to spin all of them so many are composted. It's such a shame. Luckily she has a good market for the meat because they're 100% grass fed or fed with their own hay - it's an organic farm.

Mary

Are there many sheep farmers in your area, Wooly? I thought you lived in a fairly warm place. I know around here, there are zero sheep. I don't think I've ever seen a sheep in this state. I've begun to wonder if the zoos shear the alpacas and llamas in the late spring. If so, I wonder what they do with the fleece.

Hmm.

Hesira

WoolyGooly wrote:

Texas was at some time in the past one of the top three wool-producing states in the country. It still holds the top spot for mohair production. Angora goats are popular with people on "ranchettes", as they survive on poor forage and still meet requirements for an ag exemption on property taxes.

We don't have lots of sheep, but there are a fair number, meat sheep more than anything. Ramboulliet are popular but since they're bred mostly for meat most of the time the wool really sucks for handspinners; the big operations shear out of necessity and for no other reason, all the sheep are range sheep and full of stickers and other crap I'd rather not deal with.

The Alpaca I get is definitely locally grown (well the supplier I buy of anyway) - it's beautiful stuff too, so I'm prepared to pay a reasonable sum for it.

I had someone ask me recently about paying to have some vintage patterns made up for them - I tried to explain that if you paid a reasonable hourly rate for a handmade jersey the finished product would be outrageously expensive.

VP

Yeah, but I'm talking about the commercial tops for sale everywhere. Everybody who sells alpaca tops has white, gray, and black, plus maybe cinnamon.

My son attends private school. This year I donated a custom-fitted handknitted sweater to the silent auction that'll be held at the charity ball in a couple of weeks.

When I turned in the fancy certificate I hacked up in Photoshop along with the information sheet the principal (who happens to be the organizer for the silent auction) asked me if I had added an extra zero by mistake, or perhaps misplaced my decimal in my recommended minimum bid.

My recommended minimum is $1500. I told the principal he is welcome to not offer the item at the silent auction but I won't honor the sale if it goes for less than my minimum. He blinked and agreed to put it out as suggested, so we'll see.

I'm just hoping somebody skinny buys it!

"hesira" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@51g2000cwl.googlegroups.com:

if you live in a warm climate, they probably do shear in spring. they also probably compost the fiber. unless their llamas are very used to handling & are brushed & blown out frequently, that's about all the fiber is good for. i don't know if the same hold for alpaca fiber. i don't raise them. lee

Heh, heh. I was at the Ram Wools sale in Winnipeg today (more on that later), and happened upon a lovely sight in the sock yarn aisle. There was a pair of long hand knit socks (of course) in muted shades of broad stripes which were NOT variegated or striping yarn. The stripes were done by hand. The finished socks were priced at $95.00, and althought I grinned at the price, I fully understood why.

Shelagh

This is what bugs me about a friend of mine. She asked me if I could make a pair of orange and blue socks for her brother. She said she'd pay me. I thought about it and finally said - pay for the yarn (a special dye job) and take me out to dinner (because I didn't want to charge her what it was worth.) Finished the socks - her brother loves them. At various different times she has asked me to make her a pair of socks; her a pair of mittens or fingerless gloves; and the latest was a pair of socks for her mom. (She says "I want to commission you to...") I just smile and hope she'll forget about it - I feel like I can't do my own knitting. Maybe if I tell her that there are as many stitches in a pair of socks as in a sweater?

Alison

Maybe you should explain to her the time required to make an item and the equivalent cost of that time if she were paying any other skilled labor such as a plumber or electrician.

One of my outlaws pestered me similarly to make things for her because the "one pair of socks at Christmas" just wasn't adquate to satisfy her lust for handknits. I finally told her she could pay me $15/hr plus materials, or I'd give her free knitting lessons so she could learn to make her own stuff.

I haven't heard another word out of her about it either way.

Back in the sixties and seventies a friend and I advertising bespoke hand knitted and crocheted garments. We didn't have many customers because prices put them off, that didn't worry us because we liked the customers who understood the value of hand-made, designed-to-fit-exactly, clothing. One was very thin (still is!) and rich (no longer!) and she couldn't buy clothes she liked to fit her anywhere. Her business went bust and her husband died so she's now living on social security - but still a few doors away - and I've offered to make her things but she won't because she can't afford to pay a proper price.

I'd forgotten all about that until I read this thread! then I remembered that during the war my mother made Fair-Isle berets with odd wools to sell at the draper's shop at the bottom of our street. My mother was very clever with a needle of any kind, she never picks one up now (in her nineties but fit as a lop).

Mary

Mary

WOOLY You are my heroine of today That is THE ANSWER

Somebody kept nagging me after i made her a birthday FF Cellular bag, now she felt for a hat a shawl and maybe a vest , since my work is so nice, and she will [are you sitted NGers?] it will give me a good name ,,,,,,brrrrrr i hinted about the time ,,, she won`t pay it since "I am enjoiying it so much -she does me a favour for asking to make her some thing ? " i said she she at least do something in return , hour for hour ,,,,,she doesn`t think so ,,, next birtday i will deffinitely BUY something if at all ..... mirjam

In my student years i made money , sewing up [and `repairing` ] knits people knitted but brought to the shop to be sewn up... wasn`t much , but paid for my bus snd some breakfasts, and could be done at my own timing. mirjam

X-No-archive:yes

I've never charged for my handiwork. In the early years, I was making sweaters etc for my sons and large Aran afghans for family gifts and presents. In recent years, I'm almost exclusively doing the crib sized afghans for Project Linus and when people ask if they could have one, I decline.

Right now, after a year of doing afghans for PL - I'm trying to figure out the cost for a charitible contribution for my taxes. I know that Nora has done over 74 afghans, but I've only done 15. Anyone have an idea or a formula on how to reach a figure for tax purposes?: TIA Joan

Joan, A tax person would be the best to answer that question, but I'm sure you would need to know how much the yarn costs per each PL afghan, as well as how long it takes to make each one, and I would guess that the cost per hour might be put at minimum wage for tax purposes. However, they might use a fixed cost per afghan, as per a market value-type calculation. (Sorry, I know my musings weren't really of any help.) Happy knitting!

-- Carey in MA