buffalo yarn

[leaette]

ever hear of it? i just heard of it. $55 a skein is above my price range to try it though.

 

http://www.buffalogold.net/store/

[Ldyjarhead]

I'd never heard of it either. Just checked out their website and I don't know who their web designer is, but it sucks.

[leaette]

yes. the website really stinks.

[eyrthmother1]

I have heard of it (dirty jobs w/ mike rowe was 1 way.... he worked on a buffalo/yak farm). they don't shear the buffalo/yak (too dangerous), but they have to chase them into long corrally type thing, where thse heads get caught, run up and pull the loose hair off of them. it's also supposedly very soft, and very very warm (from the show again).

 

part of the expense, mentioned by the farm owners on the show, is because it's still on the rare side of availability. the woman who spun and made things w/ it said that (at that time) the way to get any was to know someone who worked w/ it (farmed them) but rarely found it to buy.

 

was an interesting show (at least to me )

 

Sandy

[Elle]

The price of the yarn is pretty outrageous, but if they only had photos of the completed projects that come from their designers it might make it more interesting to see how the stuff works up. As it is, all you can do is sit and read a description of the item and then figure out how many major organs you'll have to sell to be able to afford to purchase the yarn for it since they DO at least tell you how many skeins it takes for each project.

[magiccrochetfan]

I've heard of it, but I don't think I've seen it in person. Seems like Knitting Daily TV had an episode about luxury yarns where they talked about this and other exotic animal fibers.

 

I was at a nice little LYS while on vacation last summer and they had a (tiny) ball of vicuna yarn, which was as I recall $229, somewhat less than the going price at that time. the shop owner laughed and said, " I don't know why I bought that, I'm never going to sell it!" so we had a good laugh about it.

[sunnywolfgar]

interesting yarn, but thats pricy.

[Feederofthepack]

I saw it in my LYS once. It is amazingly soft but $60 a skein!

[wheat]

ever hear of it? i just heard of it. $55 a skein is above my price range to try it though.

 

http://www.buffalogold.net/store/

 

The Buffalo Gold brand has been around about 5 or so years that I am sure of, although they may have been involved in raising North American Bison for longer than that.

 

There is no question that the yarn is considered high end, but it is beautiful, seriously warm (which is why the lacy kits are so useful).

 

It knits or crochets just as any other similar weight yarn, weaves and braids beautifully. It certainly does not felt as easily as some sheeps wool, but does if one wants to use it for that purpose.

 

HTH

 

Wheat

[happy stitcher]

It looks really nice, but I won't be trying it any time soon!

[ala139]

Oh my gosh, the poor Buffalo! Can you imagine if we had to run through a really super narrow hallway every day and have some of the hair just yanked off the top of our heads. If it was $2 I still wouldn't use it.

[RoseRed]

I'm not quite sure where that came from. I was just checking out the website and on the Barn Rats page (that's what they call the small crew that actually removes the hair) it says that the hides are a by-product of the new buffalo meat industry. Instead of letting the hides go to waste they are saving the hair and making it into yarn.

 

Apparently the high cost is because the entire operation, from removing the hair, separating the 4 or 5 different types and the spinning is almost all done by hand. Maybe someday I'll actually see a skein but I certainly won't be paying for it if the prices don't drop radically.

[ala139]

I'm not quite sure where that came from. I was just checking out the website and on the Barn Rats page (that's what they call the small crew that actually removes the hair) it says that the hides are a by-product of the new buffalo meat industry. Instead of letting the hides go to waste they are saving the hair and making it into yarn.

 

Apparently the high cost is because the entire operation, from removing the hair, separating the 4 or 5 different types and the spinning is almost all done by hand. Maybe someday I'll actually see a skein but I certainly won't be paying for it if the prices don't drop radically.

 

 

Ok, well that's not so bad then. I was going of the post that referenced the whole Dirty Jobs episode that said they corral them and have something rip their hair out. So happy that's not the case!!

[RoseRed]

I'm so glad I missed that episode. The episode with the alpaca's was bad enough.

[ala139]

I'm so glad I missed that episode. The episode with the alpaca's was bad enough.

 

 

I've never watched that show. Though I'm fairly certain my 60 year old mother wants to run off with Mike Roe.

[eyrthmother1]

they dont "rip" the hair out. its the loose hair that is clumped up and comes right off. think how come spring thicker coated dogs have clumps that you can just pull off before brushing them.

 

the corraling is to prevent them from trampling the workers since most buffalo tend to not be "petting friendly"

 

sandy

 

**im not saying i agree w/ it all, just trying to not mislead that is being ripped out.

[appy_lover]

I petted some high end bison/yak/& other exotic fibers on my recent trip to Paradise Fibers in Spokane, WA. They were so so so so soft. I could not imagine what I would make with them...but then I got to thinking. It is amazingly soft. Maybe after I win ther lottery I will make the worlds softest light sweater, that is amazingly warm and toasty. Sure it will be hundreds of dollars, but I am sure that I will get lots of use from it. Right after I win the lottery...wait, maybe I should buy a ticket, just in case?