for the love of it

Today I visited the Mora Valley Spinning Mill as part of a writing project. I do not spin with spindle or wheel and have been deliberately ignorant about the process (I don't need another fiber obsession). As long as I can buy already spun yarns I haven't given the methods by which they're achieved much thought. Until today. I interviewed Carla Gomez, the founder and director of the mill and had a fine time walking around the huge factory building taking pictures and learning how fleece is mill spun into yarn.

The Mora Valley Mill is a non-profit enterprise that turns out quality yarns from raw fleece provided by clients all over the southwest and beyond. They take the fleece from picking and washing to the final finished product. It is a process with numerous steps and lots of big noisy machinery. At the moment they're a "worsted" mill producing yarns from all types of sheep, goats, alpacas, and will soon be adding an adjacent mill to spin merino and other short hair fibers - apparently these latter fibers require different types of machinery to produce high quality yarn. Attached to the factory is a gallery selling skeins of dyed yarns ranging from churro to merino/mohair blends. And here's an insider tip for those of you who live nearby or plan to visit northern NM - if you buy directly from the factory, the prices are 40% off!!!!! whoooeee!

Also shown in the gallery is some local pottery and photo art and there are plans afoot to add an espresso cafe by summer. I took dozens of pictures but will only post a handful here. I was fascinated as much by the machinery as the product. Huge noisy colorful gears and pistons and spinners and carders and dryers and steamers.

I loved the spools of laceweight alpaca (sigh) that will eventually become 3-ply sport weight alpaca.

Everywhere were cartons, desks, bags, cones, filled with or waiting for fiber in various stages of production - and I photographed them all! I'll share more over the next few days but will spare you the entire slide show!

I fell in love with the carding gears!

Let's just say that I had a wonderful time driving through the mountains on a gorgeous blue sky, evergreen, snowpatch day - for the love of yarn!