The festivals and events we attend throughout the year are not just about selling yarn and catching up with customers. They're also critical to our relationships with other vendors and people in our industry. This spring, when we visited the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, we had a chance to sit down and chat with Linda Cortright of Wild Fibers Magazine, who had brought some incredibly soft cashmere fiber to the show. She'd prepared a special display (which you can see at the link above) reflecting the landscape in which cashmere goats live - a landscape that is increasingly threatened by climate change.
As glaciers recede and temperatures shift, herders have to lead their flocks to higher and higher elevations for foraging. The accessibility of water is also under severe threat as the ice melts away. Some herders experience losses of up to 50% of their flocks, threatening their way of life and ability to survive, and in turn, making precious cashmere fiber that much rarer.
The fibers that become your favorite yarns can be as local as your own backyard or around the corner (if you're lucky enough to have fiber animals), but they're also part of a global network. We are all connected.
Linda encouraged us to share with you more information about the Cashmere on Ice initiative, in conjunction with the UN's International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. Rapidly melting glaciers endanger not only the environment, but also the indigenous populations who depend on them for their social and economic survival.
To help raise awareness of this critical issue, Wild Fibers Magazine is sponsoring a global fiber arts competition. To participate, you can create a handmade wearable or art piece (in an original design) using at least 50% cashmere fiber. With 65% cashmere, projects made from our Sojourn yarn would be eligible. To learn more and view contest entries, please visit the Cashmere on Ice page.