Yaks produce two types of hair. The outer coarse guard hair is good for braiding into ropes and halters or weaving into rugs, belts, and bags. The soft underhair is called "down" and has a diameter of 14-16 microns, comparable to cashmere. For maximum softness, it must be "dehaired" to remove any guard hair. It's very short staple make it a challenge to spin in pure form and it is often blended with fibers with a longer staple such as wool or silk. Yaks living in cold weather will put on a heavy coat and produce one to two pounds of fiber annually.

If you are considering a yak for fiber production, the first and most important thing is to have tame yaks, ones you can handle easily. Then it is a simple and enjoyable task to groom them in the spring to collect the fiber. Since we have royals, I try to comb out the fiber by color and keep one bag for white, one bag for black, and one bag for mixed. I wash each batch by soaking it in hot water and detergent in the automatic washer. DO NOT agitate it or you will have a washer full of felt.

After it is dried on a screen, I send the down off to Canada to be dehaired. Unfortunately, the dehairing process for cashmere will not work on yak, as yak has several intermediate lengths of guard hair. Minimills in Canada is the only place I have found to process so it adds considerable cost to the price of yak down. The down then needs to be carded very carefully (or not at all). I spin it "softly" and knit natural -colored sweaters and caps with it. For easier spinning, it can be blended with other fibers. Lambspun in Fort Collins, Colorado, blends a yarn of imported yak, wool, and silk to make a beautiful and prize-winning yarn.

I take the guard hair and card it, spin it worsted, ply it two or four times, and then braid it into halters and lead ropes using a Peruvian sling braiding technique and call it my "Yak Tack." I also card weave white, black, and heather, but occasionally dye some red. The problem with dying the hair is that you have to use the white hair for the best results, and the white hair is always in the most limited supply.

Yak felts VERY easily and successfully. I felt liners for our Sorrell snow boots from it and they are fantastic for warmth.

For all you hand spinners, I hope this has served as an adequate introduction to yak as an alternative fiber. If you have any questions - or suggestions- please contact us. Also please note that this is what I do with our fiber for our own personal use. We do not produce any product currently to sell, so don't plan on ordering any sweaters, caps, belts, boot liners, or yak tack from us....maybe in the future.

YAMPA VALLEY YAKS
P.O. Box 1103
Steamboat Springs, Colorado 80447
970-879-1789

sandhlear@gmail.com