About

Few people start out with the intention of developing a yarn company. Pine Barrens Yarn Company started as a weekend project purchasing fleeces and handspinning yarn. Before long, there was an entire room dedicated to the process and more fleeces than could be handspun in a lifetime. Luckily, there are not only wonderful fiber animals nearby but also a wonderful mill not too far away. With a dedication to the national fibershed movement and a love of all things local to South Jersey, it was easy to build a yarn and fiber company inspired by the beauty and restorative properties of the Pine Barrens.

Pine Barrens Yarns primarily consist of alpaca fiber in shades of white, fawn and brown and wool. Some breeds that we primarily work with include Blacknose Valais, Merino and Gotland. Some yarns are 100% alpaca, some 100% wool of blended breeds, and some are 65% alpaca and 35% wool. Alpaca offers softness, beautiful hand, and wonderful drape. Wool offers sturdiness and heft to any yarn. Both alpaca and wool take dyes beautifully and can be easily overdyed as well.

Some recent color ways include Sheep's Laurel, Pink Lady Slipper and Marsh Blazing Star. These colors are all inspired by wildflowers that grow in the Pine Barrens. Our colorways are typically produced on a limited basis, and each one is unique. In this respect, they are very similar to the Pine Barrens wild flowers that we love -- limited in their time with us, and each one special.

Our fiber is processed into yarn and roving at Painted Sky Alpaca Farm & Fiber Mill. It is located in Earleville, Maryland, less than 150 miles from where the animals that supply our fiber are raised. We are proud to support a small business like Painted Sky, especially when they are so willing to work with us to produce artisan-batch fibers.

We utilize Greener Shade Dyes, which are environmentally friendly and low impact. The wastewater from these dyes is heavy metal free and does not travel into your finished product or the Pine Barrens aquifer. Greener Shade dyes are acid dyes, so they do not require a mordant. They comply with the Organic Trade Association's criteria for organic fiber processing. All of the materials in Greener Shades is non-toxic.