Paloma Textiles

The Snow Leopard Trust  works to further the coexistence of Mongolian herding people with the endangered Snow Leopard.  To this end, they have helped to set up cottage industries which allow the people to sell their crafts in exchange for peaceful coexistence with the leopards.

This yarn is hand-spun by women in Mongolia, using the fiber from their Bactrian camels.  It  has slight irregularities in diameter, which sets it apart from factory-produced yarn.   It comes in skeins which vary slightly in weight, between 5 and 6 ounces and 150 - 200 yards.   For knitting, we recommend using size 6 needles (gauge of 15 stitches/4 inches), and for crochet, an F hook.  Like most natural animal fiber products, we suggest hand-washing in cold water and drying flat.  The colors do run a little with the first couple of washings, so if combining colors in a project it is best to wash the skeins separately before knitting them up.

The dyed skeins are  hand-dyed, so we do not carry dye lots.  There may be very slight variations in hue from one group of skeins to the next.  When knitting or weaving with skeins that don't exactly match, you can alternate them at intervals to prevent having large blocks of a slightly different hue. 

The dyers use natural dyes which are sent to them from the Snow Leopard headquarters:  Cutch powered extract, Cochineal Bugs, Natural Indigo Powder, Osage Orange liquid extract, and Cream of Tartar. 

To read about the women who make this yarn, and the Snow Leopard Trust which helps them market it, please see our About Camel Yarn page.