project-image

Herders to Home 2020: Luxury Mongolian Yarn and Fiber

Created by Jon Hetts

From herders to home, our yarns are made with exotic fibers from nomadic, free-range animals on the remote Mongolian plains.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Still waiting for a boat, but getting close!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 08:52:39 PM

Hey everybody,


Just a quick update here about the shipping progress. Got the schedule today for the vessels, and everything is slated to leave Korea on the 22nd and dock in LA on the 3rd of December. That is a lot faster than I was expecting, but not going to look a gift horse in the mouth! There will be some time getting everything through customs and the like, but still a good sign for scheduling and still hopeful packages will be going out by the middle of the month.


Mongolia News

We got really lucky that everything got out when it did. A couple days after the special DHL charter for cargo that we barely made it on left, Mongolia got its first public transmission cases of COVID and everything has been tightly locked down since this time last week and will continue until at least the first of December, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be longer. Small victories against 2020! It has, however, put serious cramps in some of my other projects here (honey and recycled cashmere) but those can wait a few weeks. It's also given me plenty of time to start a sweater... again, sorry to tease with the yarn, but it's too good for me to not play with here!

Leontis Sweater in Olive Cashmere Fingering

Website Orders

Thank you to everybody that made add-on orders from the website! Everything ordered from the site is now linked on your Backerkit account and will go out with the rest of your order. You should see them added in under your "Pledge Items" on the "Review" page.


Next Steps

As far as locking down final delivery addresses, I'll send an update next week once everything is finalized and on the boat to America and do the final address lock at that time. 

That's it for me! As always, holler with any questions, comments, or concerns. Getting close!


Thank you,

Jon

In the Gobi

Some slow-mo action of some camels at the watering well (cows for scale -- They're HUGE!!):

Shipping Update: Everything is in Korea waiting for a boat!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 08:53:58 PM

Hey Everybody!


Luckily enough we were able to get everything together and cleared through customs to make a special charter flight DHL put together on Sunday. Now we're just waiting for a vessel schedule before everything starts making its way to America for final distribution. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of days and it'll be smooth sailing!


Once everything starts moving across the pacific, you'll get an email from Backerkit about finalizing your addresses so I can get everything organized with the warehouse I'll be using for distribution. If you don't need to make any changes, no need to do anything. If there are going to be any changes to where you want your items delivered (I'm expecting things to be in the mail mid/late December) just follow the links in the emails to switch things up.


Add-Ons

For those that still want to add-on a thing or two before things get shipped out, I have updated my website with inventory and items from the Kickstarter campaign. If you order from the website and are also a Backer, please use the code "KSFREESHIP" so you don't get charged for shipping and I'll just add the items to your order on Backerkit and everything will go out together.


Thank you to everybody for your patience so far with the shipping process! All in all, still keeping a pretty good schedule considering everything. Was quite a relief that we didn't have to wait until the 18th and then possibly be competing again for space. For those that were asking, I'm still waiting for my honey jars, so no update there as to if it will be ready for the Kickstarter distribution or not (although I'm hopeful!)


ULA+LIA Handmade

I'm also working on getting a video together to introduce the ULA+LIA Handmade line a bit more. When making the baby yak wool knitted items for the campaign, I grew to learn a bit more about the women making the products and how awesome it was. Everything is handloomed and hand-finished by local entrepreneurs working from home. I ended up deciding to get some more inventory and trying to expand this line a bit. I've got a beanie that I'm practically living in right now, so I think the quality an love is definitely there to where it's worth some investment. 

All I have for this update is a few pictures, but planning to have some video showing the process for our next update. Those items available on the website here, but will have a special page for them on the site soon. These are the producers for all of the items from the campaign as well.

Handlooming in a Mongolian Yurt
Handlinking
Milk Chocolate Beanie

Alrighty, that's it for me! I'll send you guys another update in a week when everything is definitely on the way and let everybody know about the next steps. As always, please holler with any questions, comments, or concerns!


-Jon

Oasis in the Gobi
Some of the Fingering before packing!

The videos and pictures never seem to show how HUGE these camels are, but I was definitely nervous when they were coming at me!

Still Waiting for a Cargo Flight Out of Mongolia!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 04, 2020 at 12:36:38 PM

Hey everybody,

Wanted to wait until the end of today and I had all the info I was going to get before sending out an update. As it is in Mongolia now with the borders closed, flights are scheduled at the end of each month for the following month. The last flight to Korea last month was on the 23rd, which we weren't able to make. The first flight this month was (today) on November 3rd, which we were scheduled to be on. After getting the schedule last Wednesday, we had everything packed up and cleared through customs on Friday morning. Unfortunately, I guess because of the huge backlog of other cargo still waiting from last month, I found out our cargo didn't make it onto the flight. Everything seemed pretty confirmed, even went as far as having the final airway bill and invoice for the shipment, so was pretty bummed when I got the bad news yesterday that this might happen and then the final confirmation this afternoon.

There are two different planes making flights, narrow-body and wide-body. The narrow-bodies are more for just passengers and only limited amounts of cargo, so we really need a widebody. The next planed widebody trip to Korea is currently November 18th, but DHL is currently trying to schedule a cargo only charter flight for the 8th, which I'm hoping will happen and we will be able to get on. If that's the case, I think we still have a pretty decent shot of making holiday delivery.

Because air freight is so much more expensive this year because of COVID, I had planned on first flying to Korea, and then boating to LA. From LA, a warehouse is going to be doing the final distribution. To find a way to save time, I had DHL quote out sending from Mongolia to LA via air the entire way, but it is just too expensive to do this year. It's about 3x the rate from last year, and would be a difference of around 12 or $13000 compared to using a boat. From Korea on a boat, it should be between 30-40 days. With a little bit of luck, we could have everything in the mail by the middle of December. As things get closer and we get a more definite schedule, I'm open to finding some way of making a e-card or flyers or something that could be given as an IOU of sorts for those that were planning on these being gifts. That way, you can still have something to show and give.

So, that's kind of an update for where things are at! This is the first time I've really hit any kind of slow downs in the 3 years of doing Kickstarter projects, so I'll be sending out weekly updates with more information to keep everybody posted with shipping progress. Messages/comments on here work,  our Ravelry group , and  Facebook are all good ways to get a hold of me. [email protected] also gets to me as well.

Sorry to rub it in, but I cheated on you guys a bit and already made the first project with our yarn this year. Was too good not to try it out and had had somebody bugging me for a pair of mittens since last winter. Unfortunately, I think these are my second time with the knitting curse (I know it's usually "sweater curse', but was a hat and now mittens for me). Still super pretty though!

Pattern: Worlds Simplest Mittens
Yarn: 2020 Crimson Cashmere Fingering

Other than that, not a ton to report. Last week when the shipment went out I got the final count for all the items, and there is plenty of everything for inventory. In the last years I've always come up short of something somehow after production, but this year everything is perfectly in order so distribution should hopefully go really smoothly once it hits the warehouse/distribution center. 


For updating my website, I had a little bit of a photoshoot. Here are some more yarn pics and color combos I thought might work between fibers:

The DK Cashmere Family!
Baby Camel Wool DK
Olive Green Cashmere (DK) and Platinum Gray Yak Wool (Fingering)
Lace (copper camel) Fingering (Crimson Cashmere) and DK (Olive Cashmere)
Short Cake of Cobalt Blue in Lace
Crimson and Olive DK
The Yak Colors! (DK and Fingering)

So that's it for the yarn pics for now. Sorry to tease, but I promise you'll get it soon enough! Holler with questions, and you will all hear from me on November 10th at the latest.


THANK YOU!

-Jon

Future Yak Herder! (2019 Yak Fest)
Mongolia

All the yarn is out, still skiening and packing!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Oct 15, 2020 at 10:39:39 PM

Hey everybody,

Definitely time for an update and some pictures! Everything is done with spinning, but we're still in the process of skeining and labeling everything. 


Shipping

As for shipping, it looks like it's going to be sometime around the first week in November for it to get out of Mongolia. The last flight out of Mongolia this month for DHL is on the 20th, and with the prep work and export forms needed, we're not going to be able to make that flight. Since borders are still closed, the schedule for charter flights comes in at the end of each month, so I can't say yet exactly when it goes out, but hoping to be on the first or second flight. They usually have one every couple of days, so shouldn't be much of a delay. Still hoping to get everything on it's way to you guys by the end of November.


Yarn

Now to build up the anticipation a bit more! The fingering weight is all done and skeined up in all of the colors (except the cream cashmere)

First Full Look at the 2020 Lineup!
Labels for the handspun, with the hand-signed card from the spinners
Cashmere Colors (Minus the Cream)
Camel and Yak Colors

The DK hadn't been skeined up yet when I was at the factory, but yanked a skein of the olive green DK. Had to make a small swatch with 3.75mm/5US needles to test everything out. It been a little bit since I've had the pokers out, but the yarn was really fantastic to knit with! Soft, smooth, wasn't twisting up on me or anything.

In general, I think this year we've really hit a sweet spot. The thicknesses all look spot on, the twist seems great, nice and soft, very even... really beautiful! I think the few years of constructive feedback and applying it has gotten us somewhere that I'm really proud of. I don't think I've ever been this anxious to get everything out to everybody!

My Humble Swatch (washed)

Other News

In other news here, I'm in the process of trying to get some 100% recycled cashmere yarn for us in the future. I work part time doing... kind of consulting at one of the larger cashmere factories, and I have hopes/dreams of working with them on a sustainable cashmere project for the future. One of the first steps is to do a cashmere drive where I buy back old cashmere clothes, break them down, and make new yarn again. Talking to the engineers at the factory, we're really not sure if it will work/if the quality will be high enough, but we need 50kg to get things started and see (darn batch minimums!)

To get moving, I posted some flyers and already bought back around 25kg from some of the people that work at the factory. Mainly old, felted items or items that have some holes.

25kg of old cashmere clothes!

Now I need to find a way to get the other 25kg from the general public here, but hopefully I'll have something to show and share from that in the next month or so. Depending on how the yarn comes out, I might make some products from it and do a small Kickstarter to get some funds to do a citywide buyback and take it to the next step.

Also getting some jars together so I can send out some Mongolian honey! I've found a producer with incredible products that I'm partnering with and already registered them with the FDA in the states. I just need to get some jars, some labels, and some testing done here to pass Mongolian customs, then I think I'm good to send a test batch to the states. Might be a stretch, but hoping to have it in the states around the same time we're delivering yarn.

Da bees!

OK, that's about it for me here. As soon as the flight schedule is released for next month and I know when our yarn is going to be shipped out, I'll send out another update. Also, as soon as all of the yarn is skeined, packed, and counted, I'll update my website with a proper inventory count so we can do one more round of add-ons before shipping (hopefully with honey options as well).


THANK YOU! We're almost there! As always, holler with any questions, comments, or concerns.

-Jon

one more of some of the lineup!
A Happy Fella
in the Gobi

Everything going well! Quick note about hats!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 06:16:31 PM

Hey Everybody,

Not a whole lot to report here other than everything is going smoothly, but it's been a bit of radio silence so wanted to touch base and share a couple pics anyways. Everything still looking on schedule to be ready to ship middle-ish of October. Hopefully if things don't have to sit too long before finding a flight out of here and we can still have stuff being sent out by the end of November. 

The plan for this year is to fly everything to Korea, then put it on a boat to LA, where I'll use a warehouse for distribution. Without me being able to go home (borders still closed here in Mongolia) it's better to have it done somewhere then toss it all at my parents! Although the boat will take a bit longer (3 weeks or so) the distribution center will get everything out in a day or two, so we pick up time there!

Some progress shots! I dropped off this years labels at the factory on Monday, so everything is ready for the final skeining, labeling, and bagging. Some colors are still being hanked first. I will say, the yarn looks and feels GREAT in person. Compared to last year, we reduced the twist a tiny bit, and I think that made all the difference in adding some extra softness and squish to the hand.

Hanked up, ready to be skeined!
Baby Camel Skeins!
Our lovely baby yak knitted pieces!

Hats!

So a note about the hats here. I actually returned the samples that I used for picture taking, so I can't really compare *exactly* what was in the pictures and the hats that I received. I will say this though, the hats that were made are quite big and heavy. 

Unless you're doing some serious mountaineering or live in a *really* cold climate, you probably aren't going to get a ton of use from it. Due to the added length, it really has to be pulled down pretty far on your forehead for it to not look silly. With the thickness, you'll be sweating through it if it's not -20.I personally wouldn't really use it for casual wear. 

Here's some pics...  the light brown is what I was more expecting (a favorite hat of mine), the dark brown is what was made.

Normal, casual beanie!
Thick brim, low on forehead
The extra couple inches makes a big difference ;)

So what I'm going to do is have a production run of the hats made in the light brown size and use those as the standard in the orders. These are better for a versatile use in cool weather, or to double it up and pull it down when it gets cold. Perfect for 95% of us. I'll have the other hats up on my website as a mountaineering, hunting, or cold weather special hat. 

If you were planning for special extreme weather use for your hat or want the extra heavy hat anyways, let me know in the comments or a message and I'll make sure you get the heavy hat! Otherwise, I'm going to send the size I would be happiest with and what I think most people expect from a hat.

A little more complicated than it needs to be for hats, I know, but this is literally the type of stuff I lose sleep over. Other than the size, they are absolutely wonderful. I even found out that all of the hats and scarves are actually handloomed and the gloves hand embroidered, so even more good news on that end.


Other than that, all's good here! Had a bit of a "character building" trip to the countryside the other week, but got some great quality time with some camels. The herder we visited is a part of Green Gold, the cooperative we get our camel wool from, so maybe some of our yarn is from some of these beautiful critters. Maybe in the future we'll have tracking down a bit better to have a definite answer.

Camels in the Gobi at Sunset

As always, holler with any questions, comments, or concerns! I'll be in touch in the next week to two to lock addresses for delivery and get everything nailed down before leaving Mongolia.

THANK YOU!

-Jon