Shearing time again and the fleece is already in the mill.

It's that time of year again where the herd get a short back and sides and the whole team get a chance to be hands-on with these gorgeous animals and their fleece. 

The process is very labour intensive as we skirt, grade and sort every fleece as it comes off the animal. An initial separation of the coarser leg and tummy hairs from the premium 'blanket' fibre is done on the shearing table as the fibre is coming off. The fleece is then carried across to a wire mesh table upon which the really important job begins. Handful by handful we separate and marginally coarser fibres out to ensure that only the finest fleeces go into our yarn bactches. All fleeces are also checked for strength and condition (but I am proud to say every fleece from our herd passed this one with flying colours, so the animals are obviously in tip-top condition). Any foliage contamination is also removed by hand at this stage and lots of care is taken to ensure that all fibre is over 5cm in length as shorter fibres can cause inconsistency in the yarn. Following all of this fibre is weighed into one of four grades which will determine the yarn weight that he becomes. Until now most of this process has been relatively scientific, but the colour blending now required can only be described as artistic. 

As TOFT do not use dyes on their alpaca yarns the ten shades we offer need to be achieved through colour blending. Greys are made of black and white fleeces combined (there are not enough grey alpacas to go round), an our most complex colours are mushroom and stone as these involve every colour combined together. 

Thrilled to say that the first three batches of yarn are already in production down at The Natural Fibre Company. Back on the shelves soon. 

Another lovely weekend at Wonderwool Wales

Given that I have exhibited at over twenty shows a year for the last nine years, you'd think that it would all have become a little dull by now. Most certainly not the case, and this weekend in Wales was no exception. 

In the early days of TOFT I travelled the country towing a pop-up trailer shop filled with cardigans and scarves and attending every country show and game fair in the land. It was only with the movement towards a craft revival that guided TOFT away from ready-to-wear and towards yarns and knitting kits. Shows are the best way to rapidly design, test and market your ideas to customers. The success of TOFT has been built on taking my ideas and hauling myself around the UK with a big smile for everyone who walks towards my stand to take a closer look. 

Following the hard work in the early part of this year for the whole team it seems it's holiday season here in the office. As a result it was with a snigger that I took my Dad (Rob) to the first 'yarny' event of his life this weekend. Now don't be mistaken, over the last few years he has helped drive vans into knitting and stitching show venues, and even tried his hand (unsuccessfully I might add) at pom-pom display earlier this year, but never has he stood on a TOFT trade stand to see just how busy it gets. We called ourselves the 'B' team as I had very little voice left after the first few hours of Saturday morning. 

We took two lovely alpacas (Oscar and Kleef) with us, and as ever they melted the hearts of thousands. Dad did a stirling job on the stand and sold plenty of alpacas even if he didn't quite manage to get any yarn into a tote bag! 

Wonderwool Wales is a fabulous show: great food, nice setting and hundreds of truly independent exhibitors. I would recommend to all. 

A long overdue post about the best knitting workshop EVER!

I'm not much of a knitter really, and truth told since I've mastered crochet I have never really looked back. So, when asked by a friend to bring some yarn away with me on a ski holiday to teach her to knit I was initially a bit dubious (and genuinely concerned that I might have forgotten how to do it!).  

I have skied with the same group of friends for a few years. Every year we go to a different place, sometimes we drive, sometimes we fly, but this year we decided to take the train all the way to the mountains.  We were looking at a full day of travel and it seemed like the perfect excuse to get our knit on and I had my eye on some charcoal chunky that was crying out to become a big beanie. 

Once I floated this idea to the general group I was astounded by the reaction from both the guys and girls. I ended up boarding the train with 1.2kg of yarn! An intensive knitting lesson and six beanie hats coming right up! 

Needless to day it was one of the best knitting workshops I've had the pleasure of teaching.  Lots of wine, bread, cheese and some great vintage (6yrs isn't bad!) TOFT yarns I've been stashing away for a rainy day.  My best friend, husband, her husband and not one but TWO other guys and myself all made a hat and wore it with pride that holiday. Couldn't really ask for much more! 

'Pacas get nekkid! Ed's first shearing week at Toft.

The highlight of the year here at Toft is shearing week. Tonnes of gorgeous fleece comes rolling out of the field and into the Studio ready to head off to the mill. 

Everyone is roped in to help, and this year was a particular challenge due to the less than kind weather. It was both Claire and Harriet's first year in the shed and they certainly stepped up to the mark. 

Our knit night attendees joined us late Tuesday to see the beginning forge yarn process themselves- I think many began quite shocked but left with a far greater understanding of where their knitwear comes from. 

This year was a hard task juggling an increasingly toddling baby with one of the most demanding work weeks of the year.   Still. It was worth the bags under my eyes to see pure Toft batches head off to be spun into yarn. 

 

 

Back up and writing again, but with a few changes for a New Year.

It looks like 2013 is going to be another one of those years where it's all change again and TOFT undergoes a growth spurt. Already in the few weeks of this new year we have rebranded the company to a much shorter, sharper TOFT.

In line with this (and the ever- expanding number of social media channels we are now managing) this blog will become Kerry Lord's words and thoughts from behind the scenes.

It may sometimes be about alpacas, occasionally about knitting, perhaps about being a new working mum, but most often it is likely to be vary varied and all about life at the helm of the TOFT empire.

Kerry

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Toft's Open Farm Craft Day - Roll On Summer!

 
Today at Toft we finally got some sunshine after a week of high winds and heavy rain. It got us all excited for summer's arrival, and doubly keen for the 4th of August to swing round - because we're having a party!





Between 10am and 4pm Toft Alpaca farm will open its doors for a summer open day where visitors can meet our beautiful alpacas, tour the farm and enjoy taster sessions in an incredible variety of crafts. 






You can try your hand at knitting, felt-making and crochet under the supervision of our expert tutors, and talk the hind leg off an alpaca about all things crafty. The best part is it's completely FREE. We'll even be laying on one of our scrumptious cream teas.



Activities will be suitable for all ages and all levels of experience - we're all about passing skills between people of every background and every generation.








You'll get a chance to find out exactly what goes on here and meet the entire team (including some of our hairier members).



Make sure you save the date in your diary: August 4th. Come and soak up the sunshine - even as I write this, the ladies from today's crochet workshop are standing on Toft Manor's terrace with bulging bags of newly purchased yarn, looking out over our rolling fields at Draycote Water shining in the distance. I can't think of a better way to spend a day - hurry up August!  

An update from Charlie: off to the alpaca mill!

Our new team member Charlie gives her first impressions of a trip to the mill.

‘Monday morning saw us - Kerry, me, our new intern Olivia and Pete the Dog - piling into the Toftmobile and heading to Banbury to pick up some of our latest batches of yarn from the mill. 

Cheeky Pete!

Having been at Toft for just under three weeks I’d managed to get a good overview of the way this fantastic organisation is run – since arriving I’d got used to being greeted every morning by a field of friendly alpaca faces, had a whistlestop tutorial in fleece sorting, and spent time in the shop and on the website getting to grips with the gloriously unique products on offer. But something was missing. How does the meticulously sorted fleece come to be spun into the top quality yarn gleaming in rows under our newly installed workbenches? The answer could only be found at the mill!


Laura and Richard met us on arrival, and after the requisite fussing Pete always demands we were taken on a tour. The mill is an impressive centre of traditional engineering – all the machinery has been painstakingly adapted from the equipment used to spin sheep’s wool in order to process the far finer alpaca fleece in which the mill specialises.

A waterfall of fleece

Laura led us past vast flues, rollers and vats, explaining how each particular machine works to soften and refine the fleece flowing constantly through it.

Yarn ready to be spun

 She demonstrated the giant bobbins onto which the refined fleece is rolled before being spun into yarn on long rows of whirring spools.

A school of spools

She talked us through the minute changes that had to be made to ensure particular weights of yarn weren’t over-or under-twisted, and spoke with pride about the difficulties the mill had overcome in this area in order to produce Toft’s unique chunky weight yarn.

And then there we were, at the finished product – all boxed up, freshly returned from being laundered and ready to be loaded and taken home. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, building up a complete picture of Toft’s field to fashion production ethos.’

First Workshop of 2012

We're big on workshops here at Toft. It gives us such pleasure to know that we are passing on skills like knitting, felting, crochet and also sharing our knowledge about our furry alpaca friends.
The first workshop of 2012 was Intro to Knitting, a workshop we've become famous for here and we've never had someone leave unable to knit - we won't always pass judgement on finished items, but they all leave having knitted something!

January's intro course however was a corker, attended by 10 lovely people, ready to knit and fresh with 2012 enthusiam. As is customery on a Toft workshop we had plenty of tea before heading out into the slightly wild weather for a tour of the farm. At the furthest point away on the walk the heavens opened and we were treated to some horizontal rain that almost succeeded in getting up under our coats, but everyone powered on laughing and enjoying the endearing sight of bedragled alpacas.

Once back at the farm there was more tea with biscuits to re-fuel us before we started with the knitting. Some of the group, including Anne, Norah, Sarah and Kate soon remembered knitting with their Mums and Grans and it all came flooding back to them.

Anne even decided to tackle something slightly more challenging than the necklace or easy wristwarmers. Here is the beginning of her rib beanie.

Henny, Carol, Hannah and Tim needed just a bit more tutition particularly as several of them had never so much as picked up knitting needles.

Tim thought that his sewing up of people skills (he's a nurse) might come in handy and he was right. He soon got to tackling knitting and purling for the rib of his first hat, not to mention his first ever knitting project! Everyone did really well and a few have already been back in touch wanting to start on a beginner beret and fur pom pom hat to name but a few projects.

If you would like to join us on a Toft workshop we have an exciting new schedule for 2012 including crochet, knitting the mini bulb bag, felting making during shearing week and also a quilting workshop in the autumn (details online soon). Check our workshop pages for more details. We even provide gift vouchers if you want to treat someone to a crafty present. The next workshop is Intro to Knitting being held on Friday 17th February, perhaps we'll see you there.

What is your knitting style?

Now that the Christmas and new year chaos is behind us (although the mince pies that Shirley keeps bring into the office are a constant reminder - particularly for our waistlines) it's time to get down to some serious knitting of our own. Not only are we working on the new designs for the Spring collection but we've actually got time to do some knitting of our own - for ourselves - I know, amazing!!

Carrie for example has cast on the Toft Striped Jumper and is already wondering if the 3.25mm needles are going to get the better of her. It's her knitting style to have at least 3 projects on her knitting needles at anyone time and although that is sort of the case right now (a pair of ugg style slippers 3/4s finished, and a new pattern for an intarsia baby-growbag 1/3 on the way) but a new year's resolution to finish one project at a time and use up the huge stash hidden throughout the house is causing some her some guilt about casting on anything more!

Which made us think. We all have different knitting styles just like our tensions.

Kerry is project in an evening kinda girl - any longer and she's not really interested. Big needles, thick yarn, finshed! Like the Pom Pom Beanie Hat for example.

Myra (she of Toft Alpaca Stud fame) has rediscovered her love of knitting, clicking away over the Christmas period. Having completed the Chunky Cable and Lace Scarf as a gift. So much so that she's missing it now that her projects are finished. We think she's probably in the market for the matching wristwarmers!

So what's yours?

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Christmas Holidays & Yuletide Greetings!

As you may have guessed from our last post, we were feeling fully festive as of last weekend and the Toft Christmas Decoration Workshop, so today, on Christmas Eve Eve, that feeling has more than tripled! 

On Wednesday Carrie braved Coventry went along to the Christmas party at BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire's Afternoon Show with Vic Minnett and a whole host of her lovely (if slightly random) guests who have featured on the show throughout the 2011.  Vic's red reindeer jumper was a treat for the eyes (!) so much so that it was all too much for her to resist a beautifully homebaked gingerbread cupcake, so she didn't, it went down very nicely with a good cuppa.  She even had a quick chat with Vic about the completed Knitivity, the characters of which stood proudly in a specially commissioned stable. 

Yesterday was Christmas lunch day at Toft towers and what a feast it was!!  All thanks to Shirley who made a delicious meal for us all complete with crackers and cranberry sauce, plus black forest gateau for pudding - yum!

So today is the last, last minute shopping day in the shop.  Until 4pm this afternoon we'll be serving those who live life on the edge with their Christmas shopping and we have a lot to offer, so pop in and we'll fix all those present emergencies.  After today however the on farm shop will be closed and we'll see you again on 3rd January 2012 - you can of course order online and we will aim to get your parcels out just as soon as we can in the midst of all those bank holidays!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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We may be busy but we can always find time for a Knitivity!!

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When approached back in late October by The Afternoon Show on BBC Cov and Warwick Radio about a potential 'Knitivity' we may have thought we were busy- we were wrong.

Since then we have been posting hundreds of kilos of our alpaca yarn out across the UK (and global) and now the Christmas grip has really taken hold there's no stopping us. Despite a ram packed work schedule including three shows in November- we managed to get on with our task of creating the animals for the charity Knitivity. Due to our range of natural colours we seemed perfect donors for the four-legged attendees of the cattle shed. Using only our finest dk yarn and of course alpaca fleece stuffing we set to task knitting up the animals. It was very much a joint effort- non of us having ever knitted toys of any form before. I think it was a bit of an eye opener how long these things take to sew up- and how much difference a wonky eye can make!

The weeks continue and the giant to do list gets longer- so we outsource to many hands including Shirley (Toft Alpaca Stud) to turn her hands to knitting for the first time in thirty years.

Then Carrie went back onto the radio last week to boast of our progress- and she couldn't help but take up the challenge to teach a total newbie to knit the baby Jesus! So on piles the pressure...Toft is now providing more than the brown extras...the main man! Following a great afternoon masterclass in knitting the tiny oatmeal baby took shape. I think it nay well be the first time an alpaca Jesus complete with fudge hair, steel eyes and a chestnut smile has existed- I may well be wrong, but putting it out there.

Carrie will be back on-air this Thursday at 2pm to discuss the process of knitting up this fun project. The full Knitivity will be auctioned off for Charity later this month (we'll keep you posted). We hope to help raise some money with the softest Knitivity yet made!

So thanks to the help of many a knitter we have finished with our three sheep, a donkey and the ox (that's the bog brown thing!), and of course the man himself.

It's hard to lock the Christmas spirit out!