Why Kerrville, Texas, Belongs on Every Fiber Lover’s Map

If you feel a little sad that you missed the heyday of Kerrville, Texas, as the world center of wool and fiber, I have good news. A trio of Texas fiber folks have gone rogue, doing things their own way, opening an exciting yarn shop and fiber community center in this Texas Hill Country.

Kerrville is a charming historic rural city on the Edwards Plateau in West Central Texas. In the 1860s, the wool industry boomed here, thanks to Carl Schreiner innovating the wool warehouse. Kerrville became a major hub as a global wool and mohair source, with ranches of enormous flocks—10,000 head and larger. The Edwards Plateau remains the largest mohair-producing area in the US, although the world lead has shifted to South Africa.

Get a closer look! Click any image in the gallery below to open it in full-screen mode.

A colored Angora goat at South Texas Colored Angoras Ranch, owned by Tracy and Pat Ross. The couple are nationally recognized breeders and show judges, and are continuing the Kerrville area tradtion of mohair production. While they are known for their colored Angoras, they must keep white Angoras in order to breed the colored combinations.

Mohair fleece from an Angora goat. The Edwards Plateau, which includes Kerrville, was once the world leader in mohair producers—and is still the largest producer in the US.

Don Thorp holds a handful of wool pellets made by The Rogue Skein from waste wool; the pellets are used to enhance soil for plants.

Mary and Don Thorp with a Harliot sheep at their Orchid Hill Farm. They are crossbreeding Harlequin and Cheviot, both miniature breeds, to create Harliot sheep with excellent fleeces, which they will turn into yarn to sell at The Rogue Skein.

Based in separate regions of the state, the three owners of The Rogue Skein had been crossing paths in the Texas fiber community for years. Between these three individuals, they owned two fiber mills and three ranches, and all were raising animals. Their fiber animals ranged from alpaca to Rambouillet sheep to Angora goats to a

Why Kerrville, Texas, Belongs on Every Fiber Lover’s Map

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