The Story of Colorado Pure

Organic wool yarn that is grown, milled, and dyed in Colorado

I have followed the Fibershed movement over the last few years and since I have started my yarn dyeing business, I have wanted to follow their model of utilizing materials that are within my region. Living in Colorado, which is largely agricultural and we have no shortage of sheep, so it just made sense.

After some unsuccessful poking around online for a source of wholesale Colorado yarn, I decided to attend Mountain Valley Wool Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico because a number of vendors were from Colorado. My goal was to leave that festival with a wholesale relationship with a Colorado producer. I was successful, but just not in the way I expected.

At the festival I asked several vendors if they sold wholesale yarn - and they seemed slightly puzzled by the question. Mountain Valley is a consumer festival after all, not a wholesale show. One vendor hesitantly said - um, sure - with a slight question mark at the end.

Then I went into Cactus Hill Farm’s booth, where the owner Elena, sold yarn and fleece (raw wool). She was sparkly, vivacious, and displayed a clear generous spirit. As I was looking around, I focused on her yarn - I didn’t even look at the bags and bags (and bags) of fleece - because seriously, what do you do with that?? When I asked her about wholesale yarn, her response: sure, I can do that. But it would probably be more financially feasible to just buy fleece and have it milled. Rhonda [owner of The Fleece Factory of the Rockies] is over there (pointing to another booth), you should go talk to her. 

Wait, what?

Elena quickly laid out the process of getting fleeces custom milled and I felt like a deer in headlights. I realized in that moment how little I actually knew about how yarn was made. (It starts with a sheep - right??) I left her booth slightly overwhelmed, but I did go see Rhonda and get a pricing sheet. I spent the rest of that day and evening running numbers and figuring out if this was workable for me. 

The next morning, I showed up at Elena’s booth and told her I was interested in giving it a try. The day before she had feared that she had scared me away, so she said she was happy to see me. Having never bought fleece, she patiently explained to me staple length, crimp, quality, cleanliness, and I eventually walked away with a bag o’wool. 

Now I beg Elena for her best fleeces and give them to Rhonda, who turns them into beautiful yarn to my specs. Hopefully in the next year or so all of my yarn will be CO Pure, but Rhonda is a busy lady whose talents are in high demand. So I wait patiently and get super excited when her number shows up on my caller ID telling me a batch is ready for me. 

Elena jokes that she talked me into jumping off a cliff, and she sort of did. Although now I like to think of it more as taking a leap. It did push me in a direction that I never even thought of, but I’m so happy to be on this path and eternally grateful for Elena’s guidance. Since that first meeting I have developed a dream to start my own mill and am currently learning how to process wool and spin yarn. 

The act of processing wool feels both magic and sacred. I hope you feel this when you make your beautiful creations with my Colorado Pure yarn!