Bison Ranch Blended Yarn

If Montana Sweater knows one thing…it’s bison yarn.  In one way, it is the reason we exist.  Every winter, I relieve numerous bison hides of their fluffy down and fiber to be processed into yarn.  There is an entire story about how one day a bison hide landed in my garage, how I worked with an area rancher to find the right pair of shears to clip the hair off the hide, and how I learned to let the hide dry enough to facilitate easy shearing, but not leave it so long  that it gave off the oh-so fragrant aroma of stink.   It took many mistakes to get a system down for preparing a bison hide for shearing.   It involved finding ways to lift it with a pulley since I ran out of friends, neighbors, and loved ones to help me manually hoist the raw-hide up on top of a barrel form (they got tired of blood stained clothing…sorry to gross you out).  It involved finding the right tools to comb and clean the hair of vegetation and poo before shearing, and it involved a trip to the local ranch store to pick out my Christmas present…a pair of lined Carhart overalls and insulated boots for the chilly days I’d be working ALONE in the garage.    There isn’t any other way to get the wonderful soft bison down.  No store where I can order a pound or two.    It takes a certain kind of crazy to want to get a fiber like this, and I guess I qualify.  The truth is, after I got used to the smell, I realized how privileged I was to have access to such a fantastic creature.  To actually comb through a hide of healthy bison hair is something most people will never get to do.  I noticed differences in quality of fiber from animal to animal.  Some hides just keep offering up one fantastic patch of down after another, while others are more sparse in their offerings.  I noticed that usually one side of the hide is thicker than the other as if the animal might have lay on one side more than the other.  All bison wallow, that is, from time to time they roll around like dogs on their backs in a divit of dry dirt, kicking delightedly with legs in the air.  This means I must check how much dirt is stuck deep down in the fibers.  A powerful vacuum helps get the dirt out so my shears don’t malfunction every five minutes…which means I learned to have back up blades ready to replace dull shears that quit on me after one swipe through a particularly dirt filled patch of hide.  It takes about four days to thaw a frozen hide (the way it is delivered), and afterwards about 2 hours to prepare and properly shear it.  If the fall/winter has been particularly cold, it will have inspired the bison to grow more and longer fibers which means I get about 4lbs of usable fiber per hide.  And then we can start deducting, because after the fiber has been washed, dehaired ( a process that takes out the coarse fibers and leaves the fine fibers behind), carded, drafted, and then plyed into yarn, about 2lbs of useable fiber remains.   In order to extend the life of a winter’s worth of fiber harvesting I decided to blend it with other area wool and alpaca ranches and their fibers.  This way everyone gets to get in the act, and the cost per oz is more affordable for the market.  I work with two Montana Mills to bring my bison yarn dream to life:  13 Mile Lamb & Wool, and Going-to-the-Sun Fiber Mill.  Currently, the only way to try my yarn is to purchase it directly from Montana Sweater Co.   There are several varieties and blends.  We hope you’ll try a skein and knit a part of the wild west into a hat, a pair of mitts, or scarf.

Alpaca Socks with Montana ranched alpaca

This is one of the best finds we’ve come across here at Montana Sweater Co.  I wore these alpaca socks for three days, yes…even to bed.  As an avid fly fisher and guide I was amazed, first of all, at the softness and consistent warmth.  The other great discovery was  they did not become damp from perspiration (alpaca fibers are hollow and naturally repel moisture).

you can almost feel the softness on the screen

I gave them to friends to be field tested on hikes to Yellowstone Park, and a week long fly fishing trip on the Missouri.  The results — let’s put it this way, get your order in they are going fast!   A durable calf-length sock knitted with plush loops of Montana ranched alpaca on the interior.  75% Alpaca, 25% Elastic Nylon.

Bison Trails cabled scarf

At last,  our hand knit scarves are ready to show off.  We have created our most luxurious cabled knit scarf of Montana ranched and raised bison/alpaca in a 50/50 blend.  This elegant classic piece took over 16 hours to finish.  Next we knitted a plant-dyed Montana ranched and milled wool into a very soft and eye catching cabled scarf.  BUT, our star knitter needs to be free for other duties so we designed faux cable stitched scarves that could be knitted on our manual machines in soft alpaca/mohair (85%/15%) .

Hearth Fire Hand Knit Cabled Wool

We are very proud of the results and know our customers will enjoy these new additions as much as we did knitting them. See all the new scarves at www.montanasweaterco.com

The Alpaca knit Sweater Dress is Like a Favorite Pair of Jeans

If anyone outside of Montana has noticed…it has been extremely cold  for October.  I happened to be in Helena, Montana last weekend and experienced a record low of 15F.   Luckily, I was wearing the Montana Sweater Co. Sweater Dress. Knitted with alpaca fiber raised at the Alpacas of Montana Ranch…it was perfect.   Light weight and soft soft soft soft soft.  It doesn’t lose its shape, it doesn’t bag or stretch out at the butt, and it’s warm.

I had been in invited to  visit relatives I hadn’t seen in 30 years, so I decided to let the knitting rest for a day and make a break for it.  I pulled on the sweater dress, belted it, popped my feet into my boots, and off I went for the 1. 5 hour drive through wheat fields, past the headwaters of the Missouri River, round the bend through Townsend, and into the state capitol city of Helena.  The wind blew, the temps dropped, and dropped, and dropped.  My car decided it wanted to go flat in one tire , the parking brake decided to get stuck after I had  used it in town five miles before arrival.  When I pulled into my cousins’ driveway the smell of something burning made me think  I might actually be on fire.  Fortunately, my cousin’s husband is a car mechanic!  A retired mechanic, in need of something to pry open, tighten, and oil.  So while he tinkered with my tired stubborn car, the girl cousins traipsed off to lunch and later to a jazz concert at the Helena Civic Center.

The sweater dress is like a favorite pair of jeans.  It is dressy without making me feel like I have to hold myself in and act dressed up.  Several people commented upon it (always a sure sign something is working) and my kind cousins made the friends they ran into throughout the day touch my sleeve and really “FEEL IT”.  I didn’t mind.  The sweater dress is such a favorite of mine, a classic, a fashion necessity,  that I will keep it in Montana Sweater Co’s inventory until Alpaca quit growing their marvelously soft and warm fiber.  Available in custom sizing.

Bison Ranch Sweater

Yes, you can have a Montana Sweater Co. Bison Ranch sweater knitted to fit you!

As a small company we have the flexibilty to offer more personal customer contact, and in speaking with some  of our customers we heard they were concerned about sizing.  Additionally, after a winter’s worth of bison shearing and processing, we found it would be wasteful to try and guess how many mediums,  larges, or extra-larges to knit to satisfy the demand with a limited supply of bison fiber available.   Since our computerized knitting program makes our math skills look brilliant we decided to offer custom sizing.   In fact, the Bison Ranch sweater is only offered with custom sizing.  This way we know it will fit the way you want it to.

Our tech staff has set us up with a measurement form we email once you order.   Get out the measuring tape, fill in the form with your numbers, and email it back to us.  We get to work, and within 1-2 weeks your Bison Ranch sweater will be ready.

The other benefit of using custom sizing is we keep your size on file (yes, a confidential secret file) so if you ever want another Montana Sweater Co. sweater knit for you,  we have your exact measurements and specifications.

This offer to custom size a Montana Sweater Co. sweater is available in several other styles as well.

Jennifer Olsson

Montana Sweater Co.  is a small company located in Bozeman, Montana.  The idea to produce warm wonderful knitted garments from locally ranched and milled fibers became a passion for the owner, Jennifer Olsson, after her Swedish Mother-in-law taught her to knit six years ago.

Jennifer’s first attempts at poking two sticks through loops of tangled yarn resulted in the longest scarf in the world.  When she finally found someone to explain how to cast off, this scarf became her supportive husband’s Christmas gift. He still wears it out of kindness.

Fascinated that hour after hour she could turn controlled knots (after weeks of practice) not only into scarves, but  hats and mittens, Jennifer asked the question, “Who invented  this knitting thing in the first place, and what else can you knit besides store bought wool?”  That meant a trip to the local bookstore, the library, the internet, and her favorite yarn shop in downtown Bozeman.  She found out that the first written record of  knitted garments came from England in 1615, but basically without getting too technical, from the beginning of time woolly and hairy animals were much more comfortable in the snow and blowing wind than  half naked man, and that meant the animals had to share.   Once man figured out how to roll and twist animal fibers, then knot, weave, or lash them together to make a garment that kept his body temperature regulated in cold or hot weather, he did.   Some fibers were softer and warmer than others, hence the popularity of merino wool and cashmere.  But wait, there was also Vicuna, Guanaco, Qiviut, Llama, Possum, and Alpaca!   And pondering the attraction to soft exotic fiber, Jennifer looked out the window of her western home and thought, I wonder if a bison has anything to offer?  Because she wasn’t crazy enough, Jennifer decided to see if she could get close enough to a bison to find out if they had a nice soft downy something to knit with.

How to Shear a Bison

To make a long story even longer, she did find a source for bison fiber.  The Kroon ranch of Manhatten, Montana had been raising and processing bison for nearly a decade, and the hides were being tossed away as useless.  One day the Kroons tossed a bison hide into Jennifer’s garage and she went after it with a pair of the biggest electric shears allowed by law.   After shearing what she thought was the good fiber, she sent it off to 13 Mile Lamb and Wool Mill in nearby Belgrade, Montana to be turned into yarn.   A year of blood, sweat, tears, and experimentation followed before an acceptable skein of  Montana Bison Wool was created.

Every year Jennifer is able to shear bison hides from November through April, and the following October the yarn is ready to be knit into sweaters, mitts, and hats.  Montana Bison Wool and other naturally ranched and milled fibers from sheep and alpaca are also used to create original clothing designed and knit by Jennifer and her staff of handy knitters for Montana Sweater Company.