By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio — Cheryl Ross tends to 19 alpacas on her seven-acre farm in Brookville, Ohio. It didn’t take her long to learn the value of fiber that came from her animals.

“When I bought the animals in 2002 I was strictly into the breeding stock,” she said. “I had all this fiber at my disposal. My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was a little girl and I always wanted to spin the fibers. My sister took a class in spinning a few years back and she taught me how to spin.”

Today, Ross creates colorful garments from her stock’s fibers. And like the thousands who attended the Wool Gathering fiber festival recently held in Yellow Springs, she has discovered there’s a lot of money to be made from the fiber of animals such as sheep, alpacas, llamas and the like.

“There’s no point in breeding this particular type of animal if we don’t have a fiber industry,” Ross said. “The typical breeder wants to breed the animal but surprisingly, most don’t care about the fiber. Some just let it sit. More and more my focus is on the fiber end of things.”

And for Ross it’s much more than just a hobby. “It’s a good source of income and it’s causing the farm to pay for itself,” she said. “If I never sell another animal the fiber will keep me in hay and those kinds of things.”

Thousands attended the two-day Wool Gathering event. On display was sheep shearing, weaving and spinning demonstrations, raw and dyed fiber and thousands of clothes and blankets made from fiber taken from alpacas, sheep, goats, rabbits, dogs and cats.

Sherry McMahon of Brush Valley, Pa., is interested in the fiber than the Angora she raises. “I got Angoras specifically for the fiber,” she said. “I wanted my own fiber source so now I have my own fiber farm.”

McMahon, who has been at her craft for 10 years, also tends alpacas, Shetland and Dorcet sheep and Angora goats.

Fiber spinners and weavers acknowledge that most people can purchase cheaper synthetic fiber at most craft stores. “Ours is more expensive than a synthetic fiber, no doubt, but people like the idea that it’s a natural fiber,” Ross added.

Members from the Greater Dayton Crochet Guild were at this year’s event, as was the 325-member Dayton Knitting Guild. Both units were on hand in hopes of increasing their club memberships. Both have been in existence for more than 25 years. The Weavers Guild of Miami Valley has been around since 1949.

“We’re getting younger members all the time and even my own grandchildren are taking an interest in crocheting,” said Dayton Crochet Guild member Marilyn Wolff. All three groups said they owe the increase in participation to increased interest in animal fiber.