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At Riversong Farms we concentrate on
producing top quality cashmere fibre. We continually monitor the quality
of our fleeces and selectively breed for fineness, style, and yield. Our
animals are all "fibre tested" by laboratory analysis to confirm the quality of
our cashmere.
 We
believe it is our attention to quality, plus our high latitude,
and our cold Canadian climate that helps us to produce some of the finest
cashmere available anywhere. For more detail on our stock, and the prizes
they have won, visit our
Breeding Stock page.
We hand comb the cashmere as it sheds
naturally from the goats. This happens somewhere between January and March,
depending on the goats. We hand comb up to 200 goats each year.
After the harvest is done, our clip is sent to the mill, where
we have it cleaned, dehaired, and made into pure cashmere cloud, pencil roving, and yarn. This we can offer to you at “farm direct” pricing
- at substantial savings for this top quality luxurious fibre!
Quality Assurance
"Good quality cashmere feels like
butter in your hand - you can't tell where your skin ends and the cashmere
begins"
 When you
drape our cashmere over your hands, you will know what this means. We are
fortunate in that we have total control over the quality of the fibre we sell -
from hoof to hand, so to speak. Unfortunately, the internet does not (yet)
allow you to touch the product, but be assured if you are not delighted
with our cashmere you can return it for a full refund.
Comments from some of our customers
"Your yarn arrived today, and I am blown away.
It is the most wonderful thing I have ever touched, and I have touched a lot of
fine wools and cashmere too. Congratulations on producing such a wonderful
product. I have dyed it now, and have dropped one of the skeins into
the hands of people who I know appreciate yarn. The most frequent reaction
is "Oh my God!"
Virginia van Santen - V.S. Painted Yarns, Edmonton Alberta
"Your cashmere is the best I've seen." - Judith
Mackenzie. "Of all
the cashmere I've seen and felt and dealt with, and that's a lot, yours is
absolutely the best quality. It is also excellent value."
Lynne Anderson, Knitopia Wools Company, White Rock, BC.
"The yarn came today, and I'm
stunned by its beauty! Its softness and lustre are unbelievable. I'm
a relatively new knitter, but I think that now the bar for the yarn quality I'll
be seeking has been set impossibly high." Margaret Norris, Los Angeles,
California "I feel terrible that I haven't emailed before now to THANK YOU for that
wonderful yarn. I am just finishing a scarf for my husband Scott (who
hates wool because it's so scratchy) and he said to tell you that it's so soft
it's nearly obscene (!) "This comes from a goat??" I showed it to my
mother and she said she had never felt anything so wonderful in her life (and
she's 85). So thank you very much for all your hard work - all the work
that it took to get from your animals to my hands (and Scott's neck hahaha).
Ellen Jamieson, Burlington, Ontario
Yes, cashmere comes from goats!
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We are often
asked about how we harvest our cashmere. The cashmere sheds out in the
early spring - before the guard hair shed. If you catch it just right the
cashmere comes out quickly and easily, leaving almost all of the guard hair on
the goat. This makes for clean, high quality fleeces to ship to the mill.
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Arial patiently waits to be combed (and for
her grain I might add) |
The first pass of the brush - we use a
straight rake. |
5 minutes later - the front 1/4 is done! |
From fuzzy to smooth coated, in 20 minutes.
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And only 149
more to go! Now we can offer quality fibre direct from our farm.
Did you know it
will take a goat about 4 - 6 years to grow enough cashmere to make a
sweater? |
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Our Pricing Policy
Our goal in selling farm-direct is to offer our
customers a superb quality product at farm-direct or wholesale pricing.
Our prices are based on the costs of hay, grain, maintaining the herd, and
processing the cashmere, as opposed to "what the market will bare". Some discounts are available for volume orders.
Buying for someone else?
Ask about our gift certificates! |
Pencil Roving
Ready to spin. The roving
makes spinning cashmere way less intimidating, for even the novice spinner.
The feedback we've had from our spinning customers is really positive on this
roving.
Available in white and
dark soft grey brown:
Canadian $19.50/oz( 28.3g) + GST
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| Yarn
- skeins are 2 oz (56.6g)
This year available for the
first time in 4 natural colours: white (SOLD OUT), cream, light soft grey brown, and
dark soft grey brown.
The yarn is spun at 3200 ypp (400
yards per skein) and is sold by the 2 oz skein.
Canadian $40.00/skein + GST
Wondering what to knit? Check out
the patterns below, especially selected for use with our cashmere yarn.
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So what can you
knit from an ounce of cashmere?
Since cashmere is so fine it hardly
weighs anything, 1 ounce is actually quite a lot of fibre. One two ounce
skein of 2 ply spun at 3200 ypp is enough to knit two 3' scarves or one 6'
scarf!
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Shipping is 10% (min. $12.00) on all
orders under one lb.
On orders over 1 lb, contact us directly for
shipping costs.
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"The Little Felted Hat" made
of 100% pure cashmere felt. These little hats look really cute on
everyone, as you can see here, where they modeled by some of the Bad Women of
Nazko. (long story behind the group's name)
These hats are hand made and come in
natural white, natural cream, or hand painted with shades of green, blue, red,
purple, and yellow. They are hand finished and embroidered with a variety
of coloured yarns.
These little hats are sooo soft, and light,
and incredibly warm. And they are totally unique!
Farm-direct price:
C$65.00 + shipping/handling/GST
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Patterns
These are some of the patterns
we have found which are lovely in cashmere. Pick one to go with your yarn
for the perfect kit or the perfect gift for the knitter in your life!
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