Join us Saturday, August 5 for a full day packed with fiber, food and fun at Autumn Mist Alpaca Farm and Fiber Mill!

We'll start with a fiber mill tour and dive into hands-on fiber sorting and grading.  Additionally, we'll have a short dyeing and herd evaulation seminars.  You can choose what interests you most.

We'll gather for the annual picnic lunch and if there's enough interest, carry into dinner.

Registration

A small fee for dye seminars, but most events are FREE, however, sign-up is required so we can plan accordingly.

$25 for EAA members (registered by June 30, 2023)

$50 for non- members

Here's your registration form:  REGISTER TODAY!

Agenda

8:30 – 9:30      Coffee/walk through the mill – importance of grading and sorting

9:30 -12:30      Grading and sorting (will continue after lunch for those not participating in dying

  seminars)

12:30-1:30       Lunch & member picnic (included)

  Randy Strong will discuss the importance of Herd Evaluation

1:30-2:30         Vat dying, acid vs natural dyes and over-dying

2:30 - 4:30       Learn hand-painting, dip-dying, crockpot dyeing -- rotate through and try

                        different dyeing techniques on the hour

4:30-6:00         Grading and sorting

Sponsorships

Sponsors play a vital role in offsetting conference costs and keeping registration fees manageable:

•  $200.00 will give you the opportunity to put a full page flyer in with the conference handouts (format TBD)
•   A written thank you in the conference hand outs for your sponsorship
•   One 9x9 pen to showcase you herdsire, room for you to bring a table to display your farm info/herdsire, info/fleece etc...
•   10 min of fame to talk about your farm at welcoming or lunch
•   Your banner in displayed if you provide it.

Host Farm

Leslie & Jeff Jorritsma 

 Autumn Mist Alpaca Farm, Fiber Mill & Petting Farm

 11579 Wessie Rd

 Prattsburgh, NY 14873

Hands-on Sorting & Grading Seminar

Come learn how to sort and grade fiber based on length, micron, color for mill processing by sorting the EAA fiber donated for the 2023 run!

This seminar includes a tour of the fiber processing mill explaining each step and the importance of sorting and grading.

Enjoy learning with your peers! 

Dyeing Seminars

We'll explore various dyeing techniques.  Final demonstration(s) still to be finalized.

PLUS discuss pro's and cons of dyeing with natural dyes vs acid dyes AND using a large dye vat (on a larger scale-you can achieve the same using a large pot on a stove).  We will do both washed fiber and skeins of yarn.

A)  Hand painting yarn -- just as it sounds -- painting each skein of  yarn with a paintbrush!  We will do this with a couple of skeins of yarn and then go thru the process of setting the color, rinsing and hanging to dry.

B) Dip Dyeing & Crock Pot Dyeing -- go thru the process with dip dyeing a batch of yarn with an electric cooker or gas grill and also go thru the process of dyeing different colors in the crock pot.  Will also talk about setting the dye, rinsing and hanging to dry.

We will also be demonstrating the difference in dyeing with white fiber versus fawn fiber versus brown fiber.

Bring your yarn to work with or purchase some from the EAA Yarn project who will be set up! 

Herd Evaluation Seminar

While gathering for lunch, Randy Strong will discuss the importance of herd evaluation.  Why it's important and how to get started.