Herders to Home 2025: Luxury Mongolian Yarn and Fiber

A Quick Summary of Important Changes Throughout the Campaign
5 months ago – Sat, Nov 08, 2025 at 07:03:57 AM

Hey Everybody,

Apologies for the extra email, but I wanted to make a quick update to highlight the changes that have happened over the course of the campaign that I think are important and worth restating clearly and succinctly, especially the first two points. I think sometimes info can get lost in larger updates.

I linked to the updates with more pictures and info where these were discussed more in depth if you'd like to revisit those.

1 - Autumn Teal Dye Issues (Update #9 - November 7th)

This is the bigger one. Due to a mistake on my end, the Autumn Teal turned out more blue than planned and is very similar to the Aegean Sea Blue from last year. The yarn will still be labeled as "Autumn Teal".

If you'd like to have your order switched to another color or another fiber/color at no extra charge, please email me at [email protected] to make the switch. 

Please do not feel guilty about switching things up, there's plenty of yarn and options in other colors to do so if a different color suits you better or especially if you bought the Aegean Sea last year.

2 - Dark Russet Camel Change (Update #6 - August 18th)

We were hoping for a darker brown natural camel wool color, but after dehairing and washing, the actual down wool that we use was only slightly darker than the natural camel color we've had in the past. 

To be perfectly clear, there is no natural camel camel color that matches the Dark Russet originally planned.

Switching to the Natural Dune option in place of the Russet will be the default for your order. If you'd like a different color, please email me at [email protected]

3 - Baby Camel Wool Name Change

Due to the undyed Baby Camel option not being a Russet color, it's naming has been changed to Natural Dune on the labels.

4 - Baby Cashmere/Baby Cashmere Blend Name Change

Although the colors are the same, the Baby Cashmere will be named Natural Vanilla, while the Baby Cashmere Blend will be named Natural Almond. Please note the colors are the same, but having different names on labels is just for easier organization and fulfillment purposes.

Not Changes but Other Important Points:

5 - Stone Fleece Yak/Sheep Blend Listing Error on Backerkit

On Backerkit, the Stone Fleece Yak/Sheep Blend was listed as being a cashmere blend. Everything was explained and written properly on the campaign so this is all to plan, but I wanted to clearly state the Stone Fleece is 20% Yak Wool and 80% Sheep Wool, which is also the same yarn we're using for our socks. The Lilac Mist and Autumn Teal are both 15% Cashmere and 85% Sheep Wool.

6 - Private Relay Apple IDs

If you are reading this and used a private relay Apple ID for your email address, you have not received your Backerkit survey and will not receive your order until your registered email is changed and you complete your survey. Please send an email to [email protected] if you have not yet received a Backerkit survey link.

7 -  Additional Add-Ons

If you decide you'd like to add more yarn before Kickstarter orders ship, there will be on final opportunity to add items directly before shipping, which will most likely be sometime in February or March. There will be updates about the final sale at that time.

For any issues with your order, please send an email to [email protected]. If you would like to get back to your survey to check what you have ordered, you can do so at Backerkit.

THANK YOU! And sorry again for the mixups, especially with the colors.

-Jon

Autumn Teal Dye Mistake + Production Update
5 months ago – Fri, Nov 07, 2025 at 04:14:41 AM

Hey Everybody,

I just got back from a factory visit and everything with production is going smoothly. All of our yarn is already spun up and is now either in the plying stage or getting skeined up! Here are some yarn photos, but I'll get into a dye mix-up I made in the second section of the update.

Production Update

LOTS of yarn to go through! The quality on everything is fantastic. Please understand that the lighting in the factory is very challenging for photos, although everything seems to look pretty accurate to me and on target to the original swatches we ordered from. The burnt sienna yak wool maybe turned out a bit more goldish compared to the original swatch which has some more orange, but the dyed yak wool always changes A LOT depending on lighting due to the dark dyeing base. Even switching from my computer screen to phone screen makes a rather large difference in how it looks. It is an incredible color! The marl effect from the orange and brown yak base is stunning to say the least.

Most colors aren't in skeins yet, so it will still be a few more weeks until I can bring samples home, get them in the light box, and get final honest photos. If something turns out differently than expected, I can always alter orders if needed.

One color that there is an issue with is the Autumn Teal Sheep Wool!

Autumn Teal Sheep Wool Dyeing Error

So there's no easy way around this, but I ended up making a huge mistake with the dye order for the Autumn Teal. In short, we actually made another batch of the Aegean Sea Blue we made last year, not the planned Autumn Teal. 

I was trying to find the dye code for the teal we made previously in cashmere, which was a couple years ago. There was a mix-up and I got sent back a dye swatch with a color code that looked like the teal, but it was actually the Aegean Sea and it looked the same on the photo. Big mistake on my end and I should have gone to check everything in person and I'm beyond sorry about it.

This was the planned Autumn Teal:

This is the Aegean Sea we actual made this year:

I'm kicking myself because I was even AT THE DYE FACTORY when this was getting made, but the issue is that it's actually a blend of two different colors. I saw the one half and thought it was rather blue, but was told it got mixed together with another shade for the final color. Unfortunately we were thinking about different final colors.

So I'm between a rock and a hard place here. Getting any extra fiber at this point is difficult because it won't really be traceable. On top of that, we had to send our sheep wool out for more dehairing to get the quality we wanted, and that wouldn't be possible with a smaller quantity we'd have for just one color. Doing a cashmere or camel wool batch would probably be possible, but I'm not sure camel could make the color due to the dark base, and cashmere would have the traceability issues.

Exchanges or Refunds

So, what to do? Of course everything that I make through the campaign is guaranteed during or after the campaign. Realistically, the best I can do is offer switching to any other color, even across fibers at no charge. If no other colors or fibers work, I can provide a refund, and if it was specifically part of a project you needed that color for, I refund other items in your order as well.

The default action will be for all orders for the Autumn Teal to be the new 'Autumn Teal' as pictured. I still haven't decided yet if I'm going to reprint all of the labels, but I'm thinking probably not. If you would like to change your order, please send me an email to [email protected].

Here are available colors I have if you'd like to switch:

The 'new' and 'old' Autumn Teal are rather close so I wouldn't be kicking myself so hard about it if it weren't for a lot of people already having bought the same color from last year. I know a lot won't want more of the same color. Again big apologizes for that. Please send an email to [email protected] if you want to switch to another color, otherwise the default action will be for the planned 'Autumn Teal' to be the new 'Autumn Teal' automatically.

Next Steps/Scheduling

Other than the mix-up with the teal, the quality of everything is great and I'd say we're still on schedule. Fiber deliveries and dyeing is always the hardest part, but that's behind us. I still think getting things out of Mongolia around January sounds about right. By the end of this month we'll have a clearer idea of things.

As we don't have skeins yet, we still haven't started the black hand-dyeing. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get some skeins and start that, which I can share in the next update. By the end of this month I also hope to have final photos of skeins in all the colors, but it could be slightly longer depending how the factory manages the finishing work.

As always, feel free to leave a comment with a question and I'll get back to you, or send an email to [email protected] with any order concerns. If you'd like to get back to your survey, please do so HERE through Backerkit. For more casual convo about the update, feel free to join our Ravelry group HERE.

THANK YOU,

Jon

Baby Cashmere, Sheep Wool, and Backerkit Lock/Charge on 10/24
6 months ago – Fri, Oct 17, 2025 at 12:07:29 PM

Hey Everybody,

Only been a couple of weeks but I have a decent bit to share! Here's the vlog format for those interested:

Backerkit Lock and Charge Date

As we're pretty deep into production already and we have all of our fiber and (almost) all of our colors, we're going to lock backerkit orders and charge cards for any addons next Friday, October 24th.

If you didn't make any addons, you will not be charged again. If you'd like to make changes to your survey before orders get locked, please follow this link to get another survey link emailed to you: BACKERKIT

If you need to make a change to your shipping address, you can do so anytime by going back to your survey. BUT, there will be notices and plenty of time to change that before shipping, which I still think will be around February or so.

Baby Cashmere

Our baby cashmere has finally arrived! It is indeed soft and lovely. It's already gone through the carding process and is on its way to becoming yarn.

As I just had the fiber to play with and compare with what I have at home, it does seem to be softer, but fiber is always so soft regardless it's sometimes hard to tell much of a difference. I think it will be even more noticeable when it's finished yarn. I'm anxiously awaiting getting my hands on it and knitting up some projects.

As expected, the spinning engineers did mention that the staple length is a bit shorter compared to the other adult female goat cashmere we usually get. I will get testing done to compare more exactly later on in the season. In the end, I do expect it to me a bit more delicate, but also the softest.

Sheep Wool

We also received all of our sheep wool. At first, I was a bit nervous because the fiber once again had some guard hair like last season. Although it doesn't affect the feel much, the main issue is that the guard hair doesn't take the dye like the main downy wool does, which leaves some small white fibers after being dyed up. It was an issue I really wanted to rectify from last season.

After discussing some options, we decided to send the sheep wool to the same dehairers that we use for our camel wool and yak wool. I was a bit unsure if we would be able to remove all of the guard hair, only some of it, or if the guard hair issue is more about the breed of sheep than it is the dehairing process and there wouldn't be a great solution.

We sent about 350kg in for further dehairing, and around 60kg of fiber was removed, and I'm happy to say this completely solved the guard hair issue. It can be a bit hard to tell just looking at the white wool, but I'm 100% satisfied after seeing our finished lilac mist.

Beautifully soft and no fibers that didn't take the dye, so we're good to go!

Here's a video of the autumn teal wool being dyed:

I wasn't aware, but I guess the autumn teal is actually two different blues that get blended together before spinning. After dyeing in the vat, the fiber gets dried in kind of a big oven thing. Here's the other part of the autumn teal that was being dried.

General Production Update

Lots going on at the factory! The platinum is already plied up and getting skeined. Here's some of the hanks getting spun up:

Cones are also getting labeled:

Our Burnt Sienna is also getting twisted up!

Our stone fleece wool blend is also out of spinning, ready to be plied. This is also the same yarn that will make our socks!

As a quick reminder, I noticed that I had labeled this a cashmere blend on Backerkit by accident. To be clear, the stone fleece is 20% yak wool, 80% sheep wool. The Autumn Teal and Lilac Mist are 15% cashmere, 85% sheep wool.

Our sage cashmere also getting plied:

But yes, that's about it! The only colors we're really still waiting on is the midnight ash cashmere and midnight navy yak, which should be finished sometime next week. When I was at the dye factory I also picked up all of the black dye that I'll need for the hand-dyed black, so that should be starting in the next month or so. I'll be posting stories about that and other crafting projects as our new yarn comes out on our instagram, so please follow there if that's of interest to you. For more casual convo about the Kickstarter or other ULA+LIA news, please also consider joining our ravelry group.

There aren't any important dates coming up for the project, but plan to hear from me again around the end of November when there's a lot more yarn out and I will hopefully have some final product photos to really show off the colors (and maybe some knitted up projects as well!) Here's a final link if you need to get back to your Backerkit survey.

Please send an email to [email protected] if you have any issues.

THANK YOU!

-Jon

We've got a lot of fiber, a lot of colors, and some yarn!
6 months ago – Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 01:28:08 AM

Hey Everybody,

Sorry for the delay between updates, but I have a lot to share now! Here's the vlog style update for those interested:

Fiber Deliveries

Deliveries this year were a bit slower than anticipated, but everything is coming along. Everything has arrived except the sheep wool and baby cashmere, which is slated for this Friday or Monday of next week. I would have preferred to wait for those deliveries before posting the update, but today was a hard personal deadline for me to share progress. Sheep wool and baby cashmere will have to be with the next update when locking Backerkit orders on October 15th!

But we do have everything else and already have a lot of the dyeing finished. Here's the Juniper Shadow and Dark Harbor Blue baby camel wool along with the Sage cashmere:

Our Oxblood and Natural Vanilla Baby Cashmere Blend have already been spun up into yarn. It's just in singles for now:

Our natural baby camel wool color (previously known as Russet, now renamed to Natural Dune) is also spun up into singles:

For those that need a reminder for why the natural russet is a bit lighter than expected, please check out the previous update HERE where it's explained more in depth.

We've also got all of our yak wool, although no dyed colors back yet. The burnt sienna will get dyed on Monday, followed by the midnight navy soon after. Here are some shots of the fiber! And also a video of the light brown yak wool about to get some spinning oil added before the carding process starts.

The light brown is starting spinning soon. While I was at the factory, the platinum gray was being spun. Here are a few videos and shots of that process!

The lighting in the factory definitely isn't the best for videos and pictures, but I hope you enjoy seeing the process a bit.

Progress So Far and Next Steps

Although some of the deliveries took a bit longer than expected, the fiber has been a great quality and I have no complaints there! After the remainder of the fiber gets delivered, it's really all downhill from there. I'm really excited to see the baby cashmere and if there's much of a difference compared to everything else. We're still very early in the process, but dyeing and fiber deliveries have always been the most difficult parts. As those are almost finished, we're still on track for final delivery sometime around February.

As far as Backerkit goes, we're still on track to lock orders and charge cards for any addons around the middle of October. I usually like to have all of the colors dyed and finalized before locking everything in case things don't come out exactly as planned, and we are very close to having everything finalized. I'll send another update at that time with a final notice as well as the remaining colors (and fibers) that we're still waiting for. Historically the lock date usually gets delayed by a couple days or a week, but you'll hear from me again around the middle to end of October depending how long the sheep wool takes to dye. I'll give everybody at least a week as notice before locking orders.

If you need to get back to your Backerkit survey to make changes or remind yourself what you've purchased, you can follow this link: Backerkit Surveys. If you still haven't received your survey, please send me an email ASAP!

As always, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. You'll hear from me again around middle to late October when we have the rest of our colors dyed and ready to spin.

THANK YOU!

-Jon

Camel Wool Received! Cone, Spinning Fiber, and Hand-Dyed Black Orders Locking Soon!
8 months ago – Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 07:16:10 AM

(Sorry if you received this update twice! I accidentally posted it to the 2024 project first, so if you're a return Backer you probably got two notifications.)

Hey Everybody,

I don't have too much to share in the update as we're still waiting for the rest of our cashmere, yak wool, and sheep wool. However, we did get our camel wool and definitely wanted to share some photos.

Dark Brown Baby Camel Wool Isn't Very Dark!

The 'dark' camel wool didn't end up being much darker than the regular sand camel wool. When the fibers are right next to each other it's hard to tell the difference. I spun a bit into yarn with my fingers and placed it on top of some of our yarn from last year. There's a small difference, but not much. 

The 'sand' fiber from this year is on the left, the 'sand' yarn from 2024 is in the middle (with a small piece of yarn of the 2025 'dark' camel on it), and the 'dark' camel fiber is on the right.

So yea! I was hoping for something substantially different from the previous sand color we had, but it's only going to be marginally darker. I guess the different color in their coats is from just the guard hair, and the fluffy/downy undercoat we use doesn't change much.

 The good news is that it's an incredibly quality and super soft. Here's a video of me digging into it a bit at the factory. One of the hallmarks of a high quality fiber is how well it sticks together when pulling it apart. The more it 'sticks', the longer the fibers are, which is good for quality of the yarn and final strength:

Locking Orders for Cones, Spinning Fiber, and Hand-Dyed Black in 48 Hours

I'm rushing the info out in this update because I'm going to be locking spinning fiber and cone orders in 48 hours on Backerkit. I originally said I would lock the orders for these items on the 15th, but because the color is so different from what was planned I want to give everybody time to switch things up to another color option if needed. If the darker color option we were shooting more was all or nothing for you and there's no other colors you'd like, please send me an email at [email protected]. 

As for normal yarn colors and options, you will still be able to add-on and make changes until October.

To be clear, the natural camel wool option that will be on cones will be this slightly darker 'natural sand' color, although I'll figure out a new name for it soon! The dyed colors will still be the same. The quality is just as good if not better than ever, so if you don't mind the color change, definitely no worries there!

If you'd like to change your color choices, you can follow the link here to get back to your survey: Backerkit Surveys

Oxblood Cashmere

In other news, we're still waiting for the rest of our fibers. We have already gotten some of our cashmere that we're using for our Oxblood! Here's a picture of that next to the camel wool:

Getting the color correct in pictures when it's just fiber and not yarn is a bit difficult, but it's lovely and as expected. The yarn always turns out different (slightly darker and more saturated) compared to just the dehaired fiber.

What's Next

We should have the rest of our cashmere by the end of the month and our yak wool by the middle of September with our sheep wool close behind. After spinning fiber orders are finalized, I'll get the final yarn order into the factory for our 2025 spinning season and get things moving with our Oxblood and undyed camel. We're still a bit in the calm-before-the-storm stage, but a lot will start happening soon!

As always, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns. You'll hear from me again when we receive the rest of our cashmere and yak wool! Hopefully I'll have some more colors and maybe some new yarn to show at that time.

THANK YOU!

-Jon

'Baby' Camel waiting for mom's milk (yes they get big very quickly! Not their first summer, but still on milk)