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:
Surveys are starting!
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 07:10:42 PM
Hey everybody,
Thanks for hanging in there with me while I got Backerkit all put together, linked up, and all the payments for the campaign cleared. I just got the email that everything is set a couple of hours ago, so I'm going to start sending out surveys after I post this update!
For the first 24 hours, we do a "smoke test" to a small random group of Backers to make sure everything runs smoothly. If you get an email for the survey, I'd appreciate it if you could go though and report back if there are any issues. If everything goes well, I'll send out the rest of the surveys tomorrow night.
If you don't get an email with a link to your Backerkit account by this time tomorrow, check your spam folder. If that still doesn't work, let me know, or go to https://herderstohome2020.backerkit.com/ to get a new survey sent to you. This will always work if you lose your login information, can't find your email, or are just looking for an easy way to get back to your survey.
One important thing to mention here, if you were a Backer during the Kickstarter campaign, please DO NOT make a new pre-order through Backerkit, or through the link on the updated campaign page. In order to get credit for your Kickstarter pledge, you must use the survey email that was sent to you.
It's been a weird couple of weeks with so much silence! The campaigns are so intense and fun, it's crazy when it stops all of a sudden. The mid-summer "Naadam" festival just happened here in Mongolia, so it was also a quiet few days in the city. I had plans to go to the countryside, but there's been a ton of rain (which is good!) so I pushed things back a bit.
As far as progress on the project goes, I'm going to start the funds transfer so everything is over here in Mongolia, then I'll be making the final deposits and getting our fiber ordered once a good % of Backerkit surveys are done and I can make some solid estimates for our production around the end of this month. Very excited to see things get moving again!
That's it for me everybody, thank you again for your patience and the support. As always, holler if you have any questions about anything. Backerkit is pretty straight forward, but don't hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns.
Thank you!
Jon
Queue the obligatory Mongolia pictures!
Kickstarter 2020 in the Books!
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Jul 02, 2020 at 10:42:12 PM
I feel like I've been in your inboxes a lot in the last few days, but of course I have to send out an update to say THANK YOU for another awesome campaign! I can't wait to see the different projects and soft stuff that's going to be worked up this winter.
Backerkit
I have Backerkit set up and ready to go, but first we need to wait for the funds from the Kickstarter campaign to clear and credit applied to Backerkit appropriately before I send out the invites. That process can take up to 14 days, but once everything clears I'll send out the invites and everybody will be able to pick their colors, weights, and add-ons!
Yarn!
As for me, once the money clears, I'll be putting down deposits for our fiber. After yarn colors are selected and the majority of add-ons are completed, I'll make the final calculations for final fiber orders and start receiving it around the end of July. Cashmere and camel will be first, and the yak will come in late August or September. As we get our fiber, it's dyeing and spinning time until it all gets sent out, hopefully by the end of October.
So that's it for me for now. You'll hear from me again in 10-14 days before sending out links to Backerkit. Thank you all again so much for another great year!
-Jon
Critter time:
24 Hours: Lace Options and "Let Me Into Backerkit" Shipping Reminder!
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Jul 02, 2020 at 12:41:30 AM
Hey everybody,
Just a short one for me! Everything seems to be coming together and we've hit our $70,000 goal and will have some awesome Cobalt Blue Cashmere this fall! Before the campaign ends, there are two things I wanted to clarify so people can still adjust if needed.
Lace Options
I was originally going to do some polling after the campaign ended and depending on where we came up to see what the lace options would be, but I'm thinking it's better to solidify the options in case people were pledging specifically for the lace in certain colors. I should have done it earlier, so sorry for the confusion! For now, the lace options will be:
Cobalt Blue Cashmere
Natural Platinum Yak
Copper Camel
Colors and weights are the hardest decisions for me in the campaign, so hoping these work OK for you guys!
'Let Me Into Backerkit' Base Shipping Charge
I mentioned this in an update a few weeks back, but wanted to post it again for the new backers and just a general reminder so there aren't any big surprises for people going into Backerkit.
In Backerkit, shipping for add-on items is *much* cheaper than the comparable pledges on Kickstarter. For example, where 200g is $15 for shipping to Europe on Kickstarter, an extra 200g add-on in Backerkit will only be an additional $4. In other words, there's a large initial fee to ship a package, but additional weight is cheaper.
To keep everything equal, there will first be a 'base' shipping charge when entering Backerkit to make up for the lack of initial shipping charge not paid on Kickstarter for the 'Let Me Into Backerkit!" backers.
For example, international shippers will have a $12 base, Canadian backers a $6 base, and US backers a $2 base. This way, a 200g package (and other pledge levels) still turn out to be the same or close to the same shipping charge for both those that pledged in Kickstarter, or those that only pledge in Backerkit.
I hope that makes sense! Please feel free to ask for more clarification if that was a bit cloudy.
Alright, almost there! You'll see another message from me when the campaign ends to talk about next steps and when Backerkit will open up. Holler with any questions!
Thank you!
-Jon
Picture and video time:
An intense moment with a curious yak:
Moving into the last 72 hours, and a new stretch goal!
almost 4 years ago
– Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 07:46:56 PM
Hey everybody,
We've reached a few milestones in the last couple days. We hit out last stretch goal to unlock some lace options, and we've also passed our funding level from last year! Considering everything that's going on in the world, that's huge.Thank you all so much for the continued support and for the new Backers coming in for the first time!
I don't have too much to update here, but wanted to show the new stretch cashmere color we're working towards at $70,000! It might be a bit tough, but sometimes there can be a jump at the end of the campaigns, so I wanted to have something to shoot for. Sorry for the not greatest photo, but this all came together pretty quick! Depending on what it's next to it can either look like a dark blue or purple. What should we call this shade/color?!
Last week I had a quick trip outside of the city to a small camp area with my co-teachers and co-workers, and was lucky enough that there were some yaks in the area for some quick pics to share! We've been *thankfully* getting a good amount of rain here in the last few weeks as well, so everything is starting to green up nicely and the animals are well underway in their summer bulking.
Anyways, that's about it for me. You'll hear from me again after the campaign ends, but have a lovely Sunday and start of the week. As always, holler if you have any questions!
Gorgeous momma with her new babe:
Platinum Gray Baby Yak! And other general updates
almost 4 years ago
– Fri, Jun 19, 2020 at 12:56:29 AM
Hey everybody!
A little more than halfway through the project, and just hit our last stretch goal to officially unlock all of the colors! Excited to see what different combinations everybody comes up with this year for their projects. Here's the updated graphic!
Factory Visit
I went out to the spinning factory earlier this week to drop off some stuff and chat everything over. It's always a relief to meet with them and talk everything over a bit, so I feel great about this season. Everything's good with fattening up the DK, thinning out the Lace (if/when we get there!) and also fixing the slight over-spinning issues from last year. One of the biggest problems last season was twisting the hanks into skeins. I got an electric 'SkeinTwista' for this year, so it should make things A LOT easier and more consistent having everything automated.
Copper Camel
Without me even asking for it, they were able to get a small sample of the copper baby camel wool dyed so we could be sure it would work out for us. It's just a tiny piece, so sorry I don't have much more to show!
It's really exactly what I was hoping for. It can be an awesome color on its own, or it will blend great with the natural colors for some serious POP. I think it's going to fit into our lineup perfectly!
Baby Yak Wool Products
I picked some items and got some pictures of a couple baby yak items for the holidays. It's a very small selection, but I think it will be a good mix if you want something ASAP for the winter or need a quick gift. Everything will be available as add-ons in Backerkit, and people will be able to directly pledge as well on a new reward level I opened up.
'Let Me Into Backerkit!' Pledge Shipping
Something I wanted to mention here! In Backerkit, shipping for add-on items is *much* cheaper than the comparable pledges on Kickstarter. For example, where 200g is $15 for shipping to Europe on Kickstarter, an extra 200g add-on in Backerkit will only be an additional $4. In other words, there's a large initial fee to ship a package, but additional weight is cheaper.
To keep everything equal, there will first be a 'base' shipping charge when entering Backerkit to make up for the lack of initial shipping charge not paid on Kickstarter for the 'Let Me Into Backerkit!" backers.
For example, international shippers will have a $12 base, Canadian backers a $6 base, and US backers a $2 base. This way, a 200g package (and other pledge levels) still turn out to be the same or close to the same shipping charge for both those that pledged in Kickstarter, or those that only pledge in Backerkit.
I hope that makes sense! Please feel free to ask for more clarification if that was a bit cloudy.
That's it for me for now!
Thanks again for the support, it's been an awesome time so far yet again. As always, let me know if you have any questions!
-Jon
A little bit of a long burn here, but some awesome views and shots of yaks! Some horseback herding in action: