What started as a hobby for Paul and Carole Woodgate has blossomed into Fine Fibers, a thriving unique business that offers customers top quality, luxury fibers for their creative fiber needs. Woodgate’s farmette on Colby Street in Spencerport didn’t have tillable land, so in 1986 the couple bought some goats to help keep the weeds and grass down. “The wool from the goats accumulated because we sheared them twice a year and I learned to spin,” Carole said, proudly displaying the two afghans made from the handspun fibers. They now have 25 Mohair goats and a shop full of fleece, roving (straightened fiber in a form ready to be spun) woolen and cotton yarns. The walls are adorned with scarves, purses, vests, hand-made wedding pillows and afghans all fashioned by Woodgate, most of them from patterns she designed herself. Products in the Glorious Goat line of products made by Woodgate also include: gift trims, mohair angels and Christmas ornaments. The goats were formerly called Angora goats because they came from Angora, Turkey, but their name evolved into Mohair because of the fiber their coats produce. Mohair, from the Mohair goat, is a luxurious fiber highly prized for its sheen, strength and flexibility. It is characteristically resistant to soil, shrinkage, wrinkling, pilling and is non-flammable. Fine Fibers is a hoof-to-finished-goods operation meaning the Woodgates shear the goats, scour the fleece then ship it out for spinning before bringing it back to the shop. The fiber is then sent to a local dyemaster for coloring. The scouring of the fleece is a process used to clean it. “There are times I have fleece lying all around my living room while it is in the drying process,” Woodgate said. “We store the washed wool until it is needed.” Five pounds of mohair comes from each full grown goat. “Merino wool is added to the spun mohair because wool has ‘memory’ to help garments retain their shape,” she explained. Woodgate said their shop offers exclusive yarns. “You can’t find this mohair/wool yarn blends anywhere else in the area. All of our products are designed and handmade “in-house” with our exclusive homespun style yarns, sure to bring pleasure for years to come,” she said. “We also carry cottons and other natural fiber yarns.” While Woodgate has crocheted for many years she learned to knit in 2001. “I truly love the designing aspect of this craft,” she said. In addition to carrying yarns that are “ready” to be knit and crocheted into the items of the purchaser’s dreams, bags of roving are available for purchase for those interested in spinning and various weights of yarns are available for weavers. “We try to offer something for everybody,” she said. “And you can come in and special order yarns in a color to suit the project you’re making - we just need some lead time to get the yarn processed and dyed.” The Fine Fibers Boutique is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Monday through Friday by appointment by calling 352-5538. Woodgate invites visitors to her website at: www.finefibers.com. Woodgate also offers a Knitting 101 class to get people started on a new hobby. Hand spinning vocabulary
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