The LIYF Of Shearing
The LIYF of Shearing
A collaboration of Farm to Yarn with Knot House Crafts
How many times have I heard ...."What would that fleece look like spun up?” "How much yarn would you get from that animal?” "Can I get yarn from that baby?"
All great questions, without easy answers. You see, creating yarn from your farm or from fleeces you've shorn most often requires sending it to a mill due a time and a production standpoint. And in an effort to make it as economically feasible as possible, you cannot easily process single fleeces and often have to combine fleeces to meet a minimum poundage for a lower per skein cost. So, rarely do you get to see just how one particular fleece spins up, or how much it will yield and while I can still feel connected to the yarn created by knowing "who" is in it, you lose the charm of being able to say this is from so and so. Until now!!!!
So what happens when someone who raises fibered animals and shears professionally gets together with someone who has become obsessed with hand-processing and hand-spinning fleeces? You get a new collaborative journey that will be a means to celebrate the 2025 Shear and Share Tour! The LIYF of Shearing: A Collaboration of Farm to Yarn with Knot House Crafts will kick off and coincide with this year's shearing travels.
Each month we will be sharing with you, a yarn that will tell the tale. Shorn by hand spun by hand. A plying of heartwarming stories along with the education of the process involved.
Much like our last collaboration, a new limited hand processed and hand spun yarn will drop each month (the 1st Friday at 8pm EDT.) throughout the shearing season and potentially continue thereafter based on interest. This is not a subscription! There is no obligation, but it is our hope that you will choose to follow this journey with us. Along with each release will be photos and stories of the animal(s) who’s fleeces were used, a full description of the process involved in an effort to provide perspective and appreciation to what the process entails, additional curated goodies and notions, and a discount coupon code to shop with LIYF. We will also have a follow up zoom chat (2nd Monday after the drop @ 8pm EDT) where we can all geek out and learn about all of the steps involved from Farm & Yarn, plus get a sneak peek of the next months drop.
John and I are excited for this journey together and welcome you to join us!
You can also check out John’s Etsy page here.
John Haffner-Henriques is a local fiber artist and animal lover. His fiber journey began with crocheting and designing patterns in early 2022. In February 2024, scraps from a custom crochet order led him to try spinning with a drop spindle. Soon after, he attended his first fiber festival, where he connected with the local spinning community and a fiber farm, LIYF. A visit to their shearing event sealed his love for fiber processing.
Since then, John has immersed himself in learning about different fibers, their characteristics, and traditional processing techniques. He has developed a passion for transforming raw fleeces into small-batch, one-of-a-kind handspun yarns—sharing the entire process from start to finish.
