Episode 103 – Yak, Camel and Sartuul Sheep Fibre – Nomadnoos Yarn

Although our program is mainly about knitting, sheep and their wool feature heavily as well. In Episode 103 we are also including yaks, camels and goats as well as two very ancient sheep breeds that you may not have even heard of. Our main feature interview is with the founder of Nomadnoos Yarns. Nomadnoos yarn uses fibre from Mongolian yak and camel and the native Mongolian Sartuul sheep. We also cover goats but not angora goats. In our Makers segment we take you to a small Bavarian goat farm here in Germany where they make wonderful goats cheese. On the knitting front, we have two finished projects to show off which also means we have two new projects to start. Andrea has also prepared a short fun behind the scenes segment which shows you how we film and prepare an interview. It’s a full and varied program for you.

Nomadnoos

Coty Jeronimus is the founder of Nomadnoos which produces luxury handspun yarns that have a strong social story. The yarn is made from Mongolian yak, camel and sheep fibers which supports the local Mongolian herders. The fibers are then taken to Nepal and handspun by a small group of woman who are known for their very fine hand spinning skills and this helps raise these women and their families out of poverty. As you can imagine it is a steep learning curve to start your own yarn company, particularly when you are working very closely with different cultures. But it has been an exciting adventure for Coty and during the interview she talks about the different lifestyles of both the Mongolian herders and the Nepalese spinners and the fun she’s had working together with them.

Coty sources the yak, camel and sartuul sheep fleeces directly from herders in Mongolia. This eliminates the middlemen and ensures that the herders are paid a fair rate for their fleeces. Herders are also trained to optimize the quality of their fleeces. The extra income that they receive helps them to keep living in their traditional lifestyle.

There is a long tradition in Nepal of very fine handspinning. Coty works with a small group of marginalized woman so that they can work from home and contribute to their families income.

Coty lives in the Swiss mountains and she is also developing a local Swiss wool from a primitive European sheep breed called Skudde. This yarn range is called Swiss Cool Wool. If you are interested in this wool you need to contact Coty via swisscoolwool.com

Finding Nomadnoos

• nomadnoos.com
• swisscoolwool.com
• nomadnoos on Facebook
• nomadnoos on Instagram

Patron Discount – Nomadnoos

Coty is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 20% discount off the whole collection of Nomadnoos yarns. They are very beautiful and luxurious hand spun yarns made from Mongolian yak, camel and the native Mongolian Sartul sheep. We hear all about how the fibers are grown, spun and dyed in the interview. This offer is valid until 14 July, full details here.

Der Berghof – Goat Cheese

For our makers segment we take you to a small family run Bavarian goat farm. We get up close to the goats, we see them being milked and we see the cheese maker in the kitchen separating the curds and whey and making all kinds of cheese varieties.

Andrew also does a little bit of research and shares some interesting goaty facts. One of them being that goats and dogs are have very similar behaviors.

There are a few perks to the job and one of them was tucking into this feast at the end of the filming.

• derberghof.de
• Der Berghof on Facebook
• derberghof on Instagram

Bohemian Blooms by Janie Crow

I made the deadline, I have completely finished the Bohemian Blooms crochet blanket by Janie Crow. Since the last episode I finished the last four white flowers and joined all the pieces together. Then at the very end, I had the fancy scolloped edging to do that goes around the whole blanket. This nearly killed me, there are over 900 stitches in just one row.

Finding Janie Crow and the Bohemian Blooms blanket

• janiecrow.com
• Bohemian Blooms design and yarn kit
• Janie Crow on Facebook
• janiecrow on Instagram

Celestial by Martin Storey

Andrew also pressed on and finished his project. I think he did extremely well with this project but he did discover some last minute mistakes and gives you a summary of his ‘lessons learned’.

Finding Martin Storey and the Celestial top

• martinstorey.co.uk
• Martin Storey on Ravelry
• Celestial on Ravelry
• The Celestial pattern is available in Rowan Magazine No 61

Jennifer Beale – L’Anse au Loup

Not much to say about my new project as I haven’t even read the pattern through but the yarn I’m using is Yarnadelic by John Arbon in the colourways Pink Moon and Badi Da.

Bowie – Lisa Richardson

Andrew says he has a thing for lace and we all know he excels at stocking stitch, so his new project is a match made in heaven. The design is Bowie by Lisa Richardson and he is using the Rowan Fine Lace. The pattern is published in the Rowan Magazine No. 67.

Behind the Scenes

Some of our viewers have asked to see some more behind the scenes of how we put together our episodes. So I put on the camera when we set up our lounge room and recorded our interview with Nomadnoos yarns. I thought it would be fun for you to first see our interview with Nomadnoos ‘from the wing’ so to speak and then get to see the final polished feature interview.

We were wearing

• Andrew was wearing a nice new T-shirt from Monster Threads.
• In the Episode, Andrea was wearing Celestial by Martin Storey
• And in the interview with Coty from Nomadnoos, Andrea was wearing a blue vest which we can’t identify.

Music Credits

• J. S. Bach, The Well Tempered Klavier, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
  • Prelude No. 3 in C-sharp major, BWV 848
  • Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846
• Claude Debussy, Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140, performed by Oliver Colbentson and Erich Appel, Copyright Kontor New Media Music on behalf of Media Arte, licensed for use on YouTube.
• Shake That Little Foot, Bill Cheathum, from the album Shake That Little Foot, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International
• Breaktime by Kevin MacLeod, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License